Iraqis urged to unite in democracy

Published on Tuesday 1 February 2005 11:45

IRAQ’S interim prime minister Ayad Allawi has urged Iraqis to unite behind democracy in the wake of the country’s historic elections, but al-Qaida’s arm in Iraq vowed to go on with its "holy war".

Partial election results could be released soon, though final results from the hand counting of ballots could take up to ten days, election officials said.

Despite the lack of official totals from Sunday’s election, officials in the main Shiite clergy-endorsed coalition claimed a large victory, which could raise tensions with Iraq’s Sunni Muslims, thought to have largely boycotted the vote.

Insurgents struck back yesterday, killing three US Marines in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad. Guerrillas also issued a video claiming to have shot down a British C-130 transport plane that crashed on Sunday north of Baghdad.

Ten military personnel were missing and presumed dead - Britain’s biggest single loss of life in the Iraq conflict.

A string of suicide bombings and other attacks on election day claimed the lives of at least 44 people.

In his first public statement since the elections, Allawi called on Iraqis to join together to build a society shattered by decades of war, tyranny, sanctions, military occupation and insurgency.

By yesterday afternoon, the count at all 5,200 stations nationwide was completed, and local centres were forwarding tally sheets and ballots to Baghdad.

Concern was high that Sunnis - who make up the backbone of the insurgency - largely boycotted the vote and may be alienated from the future government.

The group al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, vowed to "continue the jihad (holy war) until the banner of (Islamic) unity flutters over Iraq".

Political parties were allowed to observe the counting at local stations, leading

to members of the Alliance, which was endorsed by Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to say they expect to win about 45 per cent of the 275 Assembly seats in the election. Allawi’s ticket was running second, and a Kurdish faction was third, those officials said.