Sunni Arab and secular parties are demanding a rerun of last week's Iraq elections, alleging massive fraud as initial counts showed the Shiite Islamists' large stake of power.

|TOP|With a 70 percent turnout among the 15.5 million Iraqis, including increased participation of Sunnis, the parliamentary election revealed a sectarian divide between Shi'a, Sunni and Kurdish regions in Iraq. Recent reports already show total victory for the Shi'a religious coalition in Baghdad and the south of Iraq, garnering 59 percent and 77 percent of the vote, respectively. The Sunni Arab parties are expected to win large majorities in Sunni provinces.

Votes showed hardly any Iraqi interest in the U.S.- and Britain-backed candidate, dousing hopes of establishing a pro-Western secular democracy in Iraq.

Sectarianism undercuts Iraq's prospects for success, said U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, according to The Associated Press. For Iraq to succeed there has to be cross-ethnic and cross-sectarian co-operation.

The United States will be encouraging a government that represents all corners of Iraqi society, he added.

|AD|Although the Sunnis are lobbying against the election results, threatening intensified attacks, the Electoral Commission rejected calls for a rerun, which both U.S. and U.N. officials say would not affect the overall result.

The dominating Shiite religious groups – including the United Iraqi Alliance – in the elections indicate a large victory for Iran where Islam is the official religion.

Dr. Eden Naby, project director of Assyrian Family Records, had feared Shari’a law in Iran coming to Iraq with the elections. Such an adoption would mean further lack of attention and protection of native Christians in Iraq, she said.

Iran was redesignated as a "Country of Particular Concern" in the U.S. Department of State's International Religious Freedom Report this year.

While Shiites took much of the victory in Iraq, overseas, the party was narrowly defeated by the Christian slate among Iraqi expatriates in the U.S., initial results showed.

The national turnout of 70 percent of Iraqis was a large increase from the 58 percent that had participated in the January elections.








Lillian Kwon
Christian Today Correspondent