Kurds and Shiites share bulk of vote

Preliminary results released from ballots cast by expatriate Iraqis and an early vote carried out for soldiers, hospital patients and prisoners, showed a coalition of Kurdish parties and the main Shiite religious bloc each taking about a third of the vote.

The results released by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq showed the Kurdistan Coalition List with 36.56% of the vote, the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance winning 30.28%, former Shiite Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s secular Iraqi National List garnering 11.10% and the main Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front taking 4.85% of the vote. Smaller parties split the remainder.