Friday, February 18 2005 13:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: Iraq's electoral commission certified last month's historic poll yesterday (Feb 17, 2005), finalising a historic victory for the country's Shiite majority, which gained 140 seats in the new 275-member Parliament.

Of 12 parties that will sit in the National Assembly, the main Kurdish coalition won 75 seats and the list of interim premier Iyad Allawi 40, the independent electoral commission announced.

The United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) backed by Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani won less than half of the votes cast on January 30 but its score translates into an absolute majority in parliament.

The results of the landmark poll, the first since Saddam Hussein was toppled in April 2003 by US-led invading forces, will lead to the first Shiite Government in an Arab State in more than 1,000 years, a development that has caused concern among its Sunni-run neighbours.

Yesterday's announcement marked the end of the process for Iraq's first free elections in decades, but the electoral.

Carlos Valenzuela, the chief UN election adviser, congratulated the commission, the Government and the Iraqi people.

"They made this process an immense success... The elections were not perfect, they were never meant to be, but they were extremely successful elections," he said.

Even as the final distribution of seats was announced, heavyweights from the winning Shiite list jockeyed for Cabinet portfolios and the Prime Minister's job remained up for grabs despite earlier expectations it would go to current Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

A meeting of UIA candidates in the capital failed to reach agreement on their candidate for the top job, with the decision now due to be made next week.

"Next week will be decisive and the meeting will be held on Monday (Feb 21, 2005) or Tuesday (Feb 22, 2005)," said Nuri Kamel Mohammed, a political advisor to Dawa, one of the two main parties on the winning list.

UIA candidates will cast ballots to decide on who should be their official candidate, said Mohammed.

Other candidates from the United Iraqi Alliance list present at the talks said that two candidates were in the running for the premiership nomination: Jaafari, leader of the Dawa party, and Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress.