Maliki beats religious parties in Iraqi vote

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki rode a nationalist, law-and-order message to a decisive victory over the Shi'ite religious parties who previously dominated Iraq, preliminary election results showed yesterday.

The success of Mr Maliki's State of Law coalition in provincial polls in Baghdad and the Shi'ite south gives a leader once derided as weak a mandate for a strong central state, and crucial momentum ahead of national elections later this year.

It also marks a shift away from the overtly sectarian politics that gripped Iraq since 2003.

"This shows that the Iraqi voter wants to hear nationalist speeches as well as religious speeches," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters by telephone from Kuwait.

"The first priority for Iraqis is security. The Prime Minister achieved good security for Iraq. The Iraqi voter preferred to give his vote to the one who brought security."

Mr Maliki, himself a Shi'ite with Islamist roots, campaigned on a rigorously non-sectarian law-and-order platform, even as his opponents adopted overtly religious slogans and images.

Saturday's provincial election was the most peaceful in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, hailed as a sign of progress by Washington as its 140,000 troops prepare to leave.

Mr Maliki's State of Law won by huge margins in the capital and Iraq's second largest city Basra, and scored smaller but substantial victories in seven of eight other Shi'ite provinces in the south.

Secularist and independent parties also fared well across Iraq, the results showed, after being largely swamped by religious parties in the last election in 2005.

By contrast, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI) - until now the dominant party among Iraq's Shi'ite majority - relied on relentless Shi'ite religious images and slogans but failed to win a single province.

Although Iraq is now largely quieter than at any time since the US invasion in 2003, a suicide bomber in the north killed 15 people hours before poll results were unveiled, the bloodiest strike in weeks and a reminder that peace remains fragile.

"It does make it clear that there obviously are still elements here - al Qaeda, other terrorists - that are trying to disrupt progress throughout Iraq because they see progress as the greatest threat," US military spokesman Major-General David Perkins said of the attack.