How Major Parties, Alliances
Fared in Iraq's National Election
February 13, 2005 12:35 p.m.
United Iraqi Alliance: Shiite-dominated ticket, won more than four million votes, or about 48% of the total cast. Its 228 candidates were drawn largely from the Shiite political establishment and tacitly endorsed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani.
Kurdish Alliance List: Of it 165 candidates, the most notable is Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Massoud Barzani and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Jalal Talabani. Received 2.2 million votes, or 26% -- second only to the United Iraqi Alliance in the election.
The Iraqi List: Had 233 candidates, led by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Includes a mix of Shiites and Sunnis, but Shiites account for the majority of top names. Considered more secular than the United Iraqi Alliance, it was third in candidate lists, winning about 1.2 million votes, or 13.8% of the total.
Iraqis Party: The party's 80 candidates, led by Ghazi Al-Yawer, were overwhelmed in the election. It has a mix of Sunnis and Shiites, and favored by some Sunnis who agreed with Mr. al-Yawer's opposition to U.S. attacks aimed at wiping out insurgents in Fallujah and Mosul.
Assembly of Independent Democrats: The 78 candidates led by Sunni elder statesmen, Adnan Pachachi, took only 12,000 votes, or 0.1%. It had been expected to fare well among intellectuals and the urban middle class.
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Key political players in Iraq's election
Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani: Although not a candidate in the election, Iraq's top Shiite cleric issued an edict describing voting as a "religious duty." Mr. al-Sistani, 75 years old, wields great influence in the majority Shiite community and has opposed anti-American violence. With the loyalty of most Shiite clerics and many tribal leaders, the Iranian-born grand ayatollah used his popularity to sway the political process toward assuring Shiite domination of the future government.
Abdel-Aziz Al-Hakim: Shiite cleric and leader of the Shiite political alliance that overwhelmed other candidate lists in the election, receiving more than four million votes, or about 48% of the total. Opposed Saddam Hussein from exile in Iran before returning after the U.S.-led invasion and serving on the Iraq Governing Council. He and Mr. al-Sistani led the United Iraqi Alliance.
Ibrahim Al-Jaafari: Interim vice president and the main spokesman for the Islamic Dawa Party, which waged a bloody campaign against Mr. Hussein's regime in the late 1970s. Saddam Hussein crushed the campaign in 1982 and Dawa based itself in Iran. The party is a member of the United Iraqi Alliance. Mr. al-Jaafari, a Shiite who was born in 1947, is a general practitioner.
Jalal Talabani: Sunni Kurd and leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two key northern Kurdish parties, his alliance came in second in the election, with 2.2 million votes, or 26%. Born in 1934, he joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party as a teenager and then founded the PUK in 1975. He and KDP leader Massoud Barzani ran for office in a joint group of candidates, the Kurdish Alliance List.
Massoud Barzani: Sunni Kurd and leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, founded in 1946 by his father. Mr. Barzani, 56, took over the party leadership when his father died in 1979. Mr. Barzani's success in the elections is a milestone for Kurdish leaders -- they will now be a major player in the new government and have a strong voice in the new constitution. His father, who survived two assassination attempts, helped negotiate a short-lived autonomy agreement with Iraq's government in 1970 that ended nine years of fighting.
Ayad Allawi: The interim prime minister's candidate list, the Iraqi List, won 1.2 million votes, or 13.8% of the total, in the announced results. Despite being outvoted by the United Iraqi Alliance, his future isn't clear -- he is still backed by the U.S. and the political parties will be looking for consensus candidates to lead a new government. Mr. Allawi, considered a moderate, has a reputation for toughness in dealing with the multiple insurgencies gripping Iraq. The 60-year-old Shiite physician spent three decades in exile and has a long history of working with the U.S. government. His wealthy family was close to the royal family that ruled before Saddam Hussein took power.
Ahmad Chalabi: Secular Shiite banker and one-time Pentagon confidante who led the Iraqi National Congress, an umbrella for groups that included Iraqi exiles, Kurds and Shiites. Mr. Chalabi, 58, who left Iraq as a teen, fell out of favor with Washington last year after claims he passed intelligence information to Iran. He ran with the United Iraqi Alliance but his role in the future government won't be determined until party leaders complete negotiations with one another.
Ghazi Al-Yawer: Interim president, a largely ceremonial post. Mr. al-Yawer's Iraqis Party only won about 150,000 votes -- less than 2%, throwing his future in the new Iraqi government in doubt. He is a prominent Sunni member of the Shammar tribe, which includes Shiite clans and is one of the largest tribes in the Persian Gulf region. A civil engineer born in Mosul, Mr. al-Yawer, 45, studied in Saudi Arabia and at George Washington University in the United States.
Adnan Pachachi: The prominent secular Sunni was overwhelmed in the election -- the candidate list led by the elder statesmen took only 12,000 votes, or 0.1%. Mr. Pachachi, 81, a former member of the post-U.S. invasion Iraqi National Council, led a group of candidates named the Assembly of Independent Democrats. The former foreign minister in the government toppled by Mr. Hussein's Baath Party in a 1968 coup was hoping to be a compromise figure in the new government.
Naseer Kamel Al-Chaderchi: Sunni lawyer, businessman and landowner who leads the National Democratic Party. A member of the former Iraqi Governing Council, he is the son of Kamel al-Chaderchi, who played a leading role in Iraq's democratic development until 1968, when the Baath Party seized power.
Hussain Al-Shahristani: One of six figures chosen by Mr. al-Sistani to draw up the United Iraqi Alliance's candidate list. Al-Shahristani is a nuclear scientist whose refusal to work in Mr. Hussein's nuclear program led to his 1979 jailing. He escaped in 1991. Educated and married in Canada, he worked for human-rights organizations in Iran and London.
Adil Abdul-Mahdi: Interim minister of finance and a leading politician in the powerful Shiite Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Born in 1942, he is the French-educated son of a respected Shiite cleric who was a cabinet minister in Iraq's monarchy. Ran with United Iraqi Alliance.
Hamid Majid Moussa: Economist, leader of the Iraqi Communist Party since 1993 and a member of the former Iraqi Governing Council. A Shiite, Moussa left Iraq in 1978 and returned in 1983 to continue his political activities against Saddam's regime. Drew support from urban Shiites and Kurds.
Source: Associated Press
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