Iraqi parties both claim to be ahead in election

The Iraqi prime minister's coalition and its main secular rival both claimed to be ahead in the vote count Monday, a day after historic parliamentary elections that the top U.S. commander said would let all but 50,000 American troops come home by the end of summer.

Sunday's election, which took place against a backdrop of violence in Baghdad, marked a turning point for the country's nascent democracy. The winner will help determine whether Iraq can resolve its sectarian divisions and preserve the nation's fragile security as U.S. troops leave.

Initial results for some provinces, as well as for Baghdad - an area essential to determining any winner - were to be announced Tuesday. The election was only the country's second for a full parliamentary term, and it attracted 62 percent of about 19 million eligible voters, according to the nation's election commission. The last such election, in December 2005, attracted roughly 76 percent of eligible voters.

Abbas al-Bayati from al-Maliki's coalition said early information from the coalition's representatives showed the group did well in Baghdad and in the Shiite south, which includes Iraq's second-largest city, Basra. "We think that the State of Law coalition will shoulder the task of forming the next government," he said.

But Iraqiya conceded no ground, saying the group had done well in areas such as Anbar, Diyala and Ninewah, which is home to Iraq's third-largest city. Iraqiya appeared to cash in on the votes of Sunnis who see Allawi as a Shiite who can represent their interests but is not beholden to neighboring Iran. "We expect that we are first in Iraq," said Raheem al-Shimmari, an Iraqiya official.

An official from a competing Shiite party opposing al-Maliki said the State of Law coalition appeared to be in the lead. The official spoke on the condition that he not be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. Officials from various political parties were present during the regional vote counts and acknowledged that al-Maliki appeared to have done the best. All of them spoke on condition of anonymity because the vote count was a delicate matter.

A win for al-Maliki or secular rival Iraqiya could indicate Iraqis' frustration with religious parties who have been the dominant political force since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Religious parties have angered many voters in the Shiite south for their perceived inability to improve government services such as electricity, and many Iraqis are generally weary of the sectarian tensions that have persisted for so long.

Most of the roughly 96,000 troops in Iraq will remain here through May, when the military will begin scaling down to 50,000 noncombat troops by the Obama administration's self-imposed deadline at the start of September, Odierno said. The timetable calls for all troops to be out by the end of 2011.