Iraq set for political fight one month after vote

A month after the general election, political parties are still waiting for the results and are jockeying for position ahead of the start of serious bargaining on the make-up of the country's first full-term governent since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Initial indications showed that Iraq's Shiite majority came out on top in the December 15 vote but final results -- due in the coming days -- have been delayed by a probe into complaints by Sunni-backed and secular parties of ballot-rigging.

Eager to flex his political muscle, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, head of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the top Shiite-backed coalition, said the new government should reflect election results rather than an undemocratic consensus between parties.

A consensus-based government "signifies the end of democracy, the end of giving power to the majority and of the elections," Hakim told the publicly-funded Al-Sabah newspaper.

Hakim indicated the minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds would be invited to take part in the new administration, but only on the terms of the winning Shiite coalition.

As a result, he said, the country would also enjoy a viable opposition -- crucial in a democracy.

US and British officials have repeatedly warned Iraq's political parties that in a democratic election there are winners and losers.

At the same time, Washington and London hope Iraqi leaders set up a broad-based coalition government to help undermine Sunni support for the insurgency.