Alongside Iraq's regular parliamentary elections, there were special elections held for Iraqis living abroad from December 13 to 15, while soldiers, detainees and hospital residents voted on December 12.

According to election commission spokesman Farid Ayar, the Kurdish Alliance took 36.56 percent of the vote while the conservative Shiite United Iraqi Alliance took 30.28 percent. The list of former prime minister Iyad Allawi came in third with 11.10 percent.

Ayar said that 319,000 Iraqis voted abroad in 50 different cities across 15 countries.

Partial results for the main elections gave a strong showing for the UIA in Baghdad and in the south, while the Kurdish list was the overwhelming victor in the northern Kurd-dominated provinces.

Allawi's list, as in the special elections, rarely garnered more than 10 percent of the vote, while the Sunni Arab parties did well in the three strongly Sunni provinces.

A group of 42 parties, particularly Allawi's list and the Sunni parties, are contesting the election results, maintaining they were falsified to the advantage of the Shiites.