Iraq set for grand coalition

In contrast, the Sunni Muslim parties - who had only 17 seats in the last parliament after many Sunnis boycotted the elections - gained ground due to a higher turnout: the Iraqi Accordance Front took 44 seats and another Sunni group won 11.

The Kurds' share of seats was squeezed - an alliance of the two main Kurdish parties won 53 seats, compared with 75 in the last parliament.

The group led by the former prime minister, the secular Shiite Ayad Allawi, also lost ground, down from 40 seats to 25, while seven parties , comprising Kurds, Sunnis, Shiites, ethnic Turkmen, and Christian and Yazidi sects, each won between one and five seats.

Politicians have four days to contest the results. Officials will then have ten days to study any complaints before they certify the results and parliament convenes to appoint a government.

One major challenge will be making good on a promise, extracted by the United States envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, that Shiites and Kurds will review the new constitution this year to meet Sunni objections to it.

"Now that the results are out, we're going to start serious talks in Baghdad to form a national unity government based on these results," Abbas al-Bayati, an official of the Shiite alliance said, adding that meetings could begin as soon as today.

Despite accusations of Shiite cheating in last month's vote, many Sunni political leaders are already discussing places in a grand coalition.

Hussein al-Falluji, who accused US officials of pressuring international monitors to cover up massive fraud, said negotiations would be tough but would go ahead.

Saleh al-Mutlak, a hardliner who shares many of the rebels' aims, said: "If we can agree with our brothers on a national patriotic project to ensure the unity of Iraq, we will be part of the government."

However, Saad Asem al-Janabi, a prominent member of the Allawi grouping, said its poor result was "a real disappointment for democracy in Iraq". He warned: "Iraqi national unity is facing a real threat from foreign elements to divide Iraq" - an apparent reference to the Shiite religious parties, which some Iraqis consider to be tied too closely to Iran.

US and Iraqi forces have been bracing for violence around the results, both from local Sunni nationalists, who had observed a ceasefire in the hope of a strong showing in the election, and from al-Qaeda-linked Islamists opposed to democracy.

A senior Iraqi military source said that security forces had foiled an insurgent plot to mount a mass assault on the Baghdad headquarters of the Shiite alliance leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a hate figure for many Sunnis, who are suspicious of his ties to Iran.

The source said several suspects had confessed to a role in the plot. "About 50 people, including several suicide bombers, were going to take part in the attack just as the election results were being announced," he said.

Baghdad was all but sealed off by security forces yesterday, amid fears of assaults by Sunni rebels, but there were still several bomb attacks on United States and Iraqi patrols, and two civilians were killed.

In Ramadi, insurgents fired rockets at US bases, but there was celebratory gunfire in the holy Shiite city of Najaf.

Troops and police blocked off roads between Baghdad and the provinces of Anbar, Salahaddin and Diyala. They were also hunting the kidnappers who had threatened to kill the US journalist Jill Carroll yesterday; leading Sunni Arab figures joined her family and colleagues in calling for her release.