Iraqis vote for a democratic future

Despite Election Day bombings that killed more than three dozen Iraqis, roughly 62 percent of the electorate voted, choosing from among 6,100 candidates from more than 80 political parties.

What happened

Iraq took the next step in its evolution as a democracy this week with a national election that appeared likely to require rival factions to form a coalition government including Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. With final vote tallies from 47,000 polling stations not expected until late March, rival candidate slates led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and by former interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi both claimed to have won the most seats in Iraq’s 325-seat parliament, with neither likely to command a majority on its own. Despite Election Day bombings that killed more than three dozen Iraqis, roughly 62 percent of the electorate voted, choosing from among 6,100 candidates from more than 80 political parties. Strong support for Allawi’s secular coalition of Sunnis and Shiites was viewed by some Western analysts as a sign of diminishing sectarian strife. “Politics has broken out in Iraq,” said Vice President Joe Biden, who hailed the election as a triumph.

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