[Rolo]

Provisional results released by Iraq's election commission show that the coalition of religious Shia Muslim candidates, assembled by the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, received about 48% of the vote.

The Kurdish parties took about 26%, while the list led by Mr Allawi was a distant third with nearly 14% of the vote.

The main Shia list of candidates - the United Iraqi Alliance - will be granted the most seats in the new 275-member assembly, and is expected to nominate the new prime minister.

However, the BBC's Caroline Hawley in Baghdad says the Shia parties will be disappointed as they had anticipated winning 60% of the vote.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/4261035.stm