Iraqi votes being counted, but new govt months away

BAGHDAD: Vote counting was under way Thursday following Iraq’s relatively peaceful elections, but with results not due for weeks and parties bitterly divided, forming a new government is expected to take months.
Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, who is seeking a third term in power, has said he is “certain” of victory but to retain the top job he must court disaffected parties within his own Shiite community, as well as Sunnis and Kurds who have angrily voiced opposition to his rule.
Many ordinary Iraqis, meanwhile, have voiced frustration with a marked deterioration in security, rampant corruption, high unemployment and what critics of the government say is insufficient improvement in public services.
Preliminary results from Wednesday’s elections are not expected for at least two weeks. Initial figures from the election commission said nearly 60 percent of Iraq’s 20 million eligible voters cast ballots. Turnout in the last election in 2010 was 62 percent.
Much as was the case following previous elections, forming a government is likely to take months.
While Maliki’s bloc is tipped to win the most seats, no single party is expected to win a majority on its own and Iraq’s various political alliances and communal groups will have to form coalitions.
Complicating matters further is the fact that the three main positions of power — the president, typically a Kurd, the prime minister, normally a Shiite, and the speaker of parliament, usually a Sunni Arab — are often negotiated as an encompassing package. “Finding a balance between the three communities is not that easy of a process,” said Ayham Kamel, Middle East and North Africa Director for Eurasia Group.