Coalition needed

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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