Baghdad
Iraqi leaders this week were engaged in tense political haggling, after the final results of December’s parliamentary elections showed that no faction captured enough seats to rule without a coalition. The largest share went to an alliance of religious Shiite parties, which won 128 slots in the 275-seat assembly. Sunnis upped their total from the current government, with 58 seats going to religious Sunnis and 25 to a secular party opposed to Islamic rule. Kurds won 53 seats. With the remaining votes split among six smaller parties, the stage was set for high-stakes bargaining. If Shiites and Kurds don’t share real power with Sunnis, said Sunni politician Mishan al-Jibouri, “they will not be able to rule the country. They will not even be able to walk in the streets.”
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