Shiite list wins Iraq elections

The list of candidates representing Iraq's majority Shiites won the most votes in the nation's Jan. 30 election, followed by the Kurds and then interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's list, Iraqi election officials said Sunday.

The Shiite-dominated list - United Iraqi Alliance backed by top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani - received 4.075 million votes, say 48% of the vote. A Kurdish alliance was second with 2.175 million votes and Allawi's list was third with 1.168 million, say 13.8% of the vote.

Of Iraq's 14 million eligible voters, 8,456,266 cast ballots, the commission said, according to The AP. That represents a turnout of less than 60 percent.

Election officials said just 3,775 valid votes were cast in the Sunni province of Anbar.

About 1.75 million votes were cast in the Kurdish-ruled areas of northern Iraq. Iraqis living in those areas also elected a new regional parliament.

The results released Sunday will not be certified for three days, officials said. "This is a new birth for Iraq," commission spokesman Farid Ayar said.