Iraqi Election Count Finalized!

CNN is reporting that the Iraqi election count is done, and the Shiites won a majority, but not a dominating one.

Iraq's Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance won the December 15 parliamentary election, according to final uncertified results announced Friday.

The alliance, part of the transitional government's ruling coalition, earned 128 seats in the 275-member Council of Representatives -- not enough for it to retain an absolute majority.

The Kurdish bloc -- which also governed the transitional administration with the United Iraqi Alliance -- won 53 seats. The Kurds make up about 20 percent of the estimated 25 million Iraqis. They were brutally repressed under toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Two Sunni Arab tickets won 55 seats. Sunnis also make up about 20 percent of the population.

The ticket of Ayad Allawi -- the nation's former interim prime minister -- received 25 seats.

Not quite the secular majority that some hoped for, but it seems pretty representative of the real Iraq. It gives real hope for Democracy in the post-Sadaam nation.