Shia group claims sweeping victory

Baghdad - The leader of a powerful Shia coalition claimed "a sweeping victory" in Sunday's elections in Iraq but pledged to include minority groups, including Sunni Arabs, in the running of the country.

Election officials were starting the second stage of a long vote-counting process yesterday and an official result is not expected for at least a week. The election was Iraq's first parliamentary vote for 50 years.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which heads the Shia coalition, said his group had won the vote.

Although he did not give evidence for his claim most observers expected the coalition, known as the United Iraqi Alliance, to dominate the poll. "The United Iraqi Alliance scored a sweeping victory," Mr Hakim said. "We know that the majority of those who voted cast their vote for the alliance."

Vote totals were being checked, then added up by computer after first tallies were completed by hand at polling stations nationwide and truckloads of ballots were shipped under guard to Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.

Mr Hakim, who has spent most of the past 20 years living in exile in Iran, said his party would reach out to other groups when parliament began writing a new constitution for the country.

Other parties representing Kurds and secular Shias are expected to do well, but a much lower turnout among the Sunni minority means they could be underrepresented.

"We don't want anyone to be marginalised. We want everyone to take part in writing the constitution," Mr Hakim told Reuters. "We will defend the rights of all minorities and all groups no matter how small they are."

He said his government would talk to U.S. commanders about a timetable for withdrawing troops, although most politicians accept there is not going to be an immediate departure of the 140,000 American troops still in Iraq.

Iraq's U.S.-appointed president, Ghazi al-Yawar, said yes terday that some U.S. troops could leave the country by the end of the year but it would be wrong to demand their immediate withdrawal. "It's only complete nonsense to ask the troops to leave in this chaos and this vacuum of power," he said.

"But by the end of this year there could begin to be a reduction in foreign forces if there is an improvement in the capability of the Iraqi security forces."

Mr Yawar is one of the few Sunni Arabs likely to be elected to the new parliament.

Hazem Sha'alan, the inter im defence minister and a senior member of Mr Yawar's party, said it would take time for Iraqi forces to become strong enough to work alone.

In recent days, Iraqi armoured vehicles and ageing tanks have appeared in Baghdad and the number of police and national guards in the city appears to have increased significantly.

Although insurgents failed to disrupt the election, there is little sense that the guerrilla war that has shaped the past 22 months is on the wane.

"We don't want to have foreign troops in our country," Mr Sha'alan said. "But at the same time we believe these forces should stay for some time until we are able to control the borders and establish a new modern army, and we have efficient intelligence. At that time ... we'll ask them to leave."

Most of the big political parties included a demand for a timetable for the withdrawal of the U.S. military in their election manifestos.

But in a CNN interview yesterday, the U.S. defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, hinted that there was no timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops: "It's not a month or a year. It's condition-based," he said, in his first comments since the election.

The issue is likely to become one of the most pressing and difficult for the government.

Meanwhile yesterday, with the election complete and the ballots safely in Baghdad, Iraqi authorities eased the severe security measures that had been put in place to protect voters and polling centres. The hours of night-time curfew were eased and now cover 11 pm to 5 am.

Royal Jordanian Airlines and Iraqi Airways resumed flights to and from Baghdad. Cars, trucks and buses began crossing the border between Iraq and Syria at Tanaf.

A five-mile line of trucks loaded with goods was waiting on the Syrian side to cross.

However, the Yarubiya crossing point which leads to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul remained closed. -- Guardian News

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