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Iraq

Who should lead Iraq? Groups talk

The majority Shiites and the Kurds hold talks about top government posts as thousands of Sunnis protest the vote.

BAGHDAD - The Shiite religious bloc leading Iraq's parliamentary elections held talks Tuesday with Kurdish leaders about who should get the top 12 jobs, as thousands of Sunni Arabs and secular Shiites protested what they say was a tainted vote.

Meanwhile, workers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala uncovered remains believed to be part of a mass grave dating to a 1991 uprising against Saddam Hussein.

The talks between the majority Shiites and the Kurds were seen as part of an effort to force the main Sunni Arab organizations to come to the bargaining table. All groups have begun jockeying, and the protests are widely considered to be part of an attempt by Sunni Arabs to help their negotiating position.

The discussions come at a critical time for Iraq, with the United States placing high hopes on forming a broad-based coalition government that will provide the fledgling democracy with the stability and security it needs to allow American troops to begin returning home.

Sunni Arabs formed the backbone of Hussein's government, and the Bush administration hopes to pull them away from the insurgency that has ravaged the country with daily bloodshed.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Shiite religious coalition dominating the current government, traveled to the northern Kurdish city of Irbil for the meeting with Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region.

A Kurdish coalition that includes Barzani's Kurdish Democratic Party and President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is now the junior partner in a government led by Hakim's United Iraqi Alliance.

Preliminary results from the Dec. 15 vote have given the United Iraqi Alliance a big lead, but one unlikely to allow it to govern without forming a coalition.

Final results are expected early next month, but the Shiite religious bloc may win about 130 seats in the 275-member Parliament - short of the 184 seats needed to avoid a coalition.

The Kurds could get about 55, the main Sunni Arab groups about 50 and the secular bloc headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a Shiite, about 25.

Asked about claims by Sunni Arab groups and secular Shiites that the Dec. 15 poll was tainted by fraud, Hakim said, "We have agreed on this with our brothers in the Kurdish coalition. It is impossible to annul the elections results or to hold new elections. We don't accept this."

More than 10,000 people, some carrying photos of Allawi, demonstrated in central Baghdad in favor of a government that would give more power to Sunni Arabs and secular Shiites. Marchers chanted "No Sunnis, no Shiites, yes for national unity!"

They demand that an international body review more than 1,500 complaints, warning they may boycott the new legislature. They also want new elections in some provinces, including Baghdad.

Two Sunni Arab groups and Allawi's Iraqi National List have threatened a wave of protests and civil disobedience if fraud charges are not properly investigated.

The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq considers 35 of the complaints serious enough to change some local results. It said it began audits Tuesday of ballot boxes taken from about 7,000 polling stations in Baghdad province.

Meanwhile, the American military said two U.S. pilots died in a helicopter accident in western Baghdad on Monday night.

[Last modified December 28, 2005, 00:38:04]