Maliki polled well according to early forecasts from Iraq's second general election since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein that saw millions defy bomb, mortar and rocket attacks which killed 38 people to cast ballots.

President Barack Obama, who has promised to withdraw all US troops from Iraq by the end of next year, paid tribute to "the courage and resilience of the Iraqi people who once again defied threats to advance their democracy."

In Iraq's Shiite neighbour Iran, the foreign ministry issued a statement saying the election "once again shows that despite the existence of enemies' plots, it is the people who decide their destiny."

The key estimates from the Baghdad region, which could swing the result of the vote, were unavailable on Monday, but officials said Maliki's political bloc was leading the count in nine of Iraq's 18 provinces.

Maliki's State of Law Alliance was ahead in Shiite regions, while Iyad Allawi, a former premier who heads the Iraqiya list, led in Sunni areas, according to estimates AFP obtained from officials across the country.

Turnout was 62.4 percent -- down from 76 percent in 2005 -- and reached 80 percent in Dohuk, one of three provinces in the northern autonomous Kurdish region, said Hamdiyah al-Husseini of the Independent High Electoral Commission.

"We have not received any complaints yet about the counting and collecting of votes," Amal Bairaqdar, another commission official, told reporters at the same news conference.

Husseini said initial results were expected on Tuesday. The complete results will be announced on March 18 and the final official results -- after any appeals are taken into account -- will come at the end of the month.

Months of horse-trading are then likely before a new government is formed.

Early indications were positive for Maliki, however. A source close to him said it now looked as if his list would secure 100 seats in the 325-seat parliament.

Maliki was appointed premier in 2005 as a compromise candidate, and his administration, with the essential help of the US military, sharply reduced the Sunni-Shiite sectarian strife that killed tens of thousands of Iraqis.

He played down his party's Shiite religious roots in campaigning for this election and sought to portray himself as the leader who restored security to Iraq, a claim dented by a series of bombings in recent weeks.

One analyst, however, said even if Maliki's list triumphed, his unpopularity among Iraq's many political parties could prevent him from remaining prime minister.

"His relations with the Kurds, who play a key role in parliament, are not good," said Hamid Fadel of Baghdad University.

"The Iraq National Alliance accuses him of concentrating power in his own office, and the Sunnis accuse him of launching a 'de-Baathification' process aimed at them," he told AFP, referring to Saddam's party.

Maliki's main challenger, according to the initial estimates, is Allawi, whose Iraqiya is a mostly Shiite slate that campaigned on a nationalist and non-sectarian ticket.

The other leading list is the Iraq National Alliance, dominated by two Shiite religious parties -- the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council and the movement of radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr, who led two uprisings against US troops.

Sunday saw Sunni Arabs vote in large numbers, in stark contrast to their 2005 boycott in protest at the rise to power of the long-oppressed Shiite majority.

Turnout reached 61 percent in Anbar province, home to the western towns of Fallujah and Ramadi which were once hotbeds of insurgency.

As Iraq counted the votes, Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband said London's decision to back the US-led invasion had earned it respect in the Middle East.

Giving evidence to a public inquiry into Britain's role in the conflict, Miliband insisted that despite the violence, Iraq now had the potential to be a beacon of democracy and human rights in the region.

The ferocious insurgency that followed the 2003 invasion was the subject of a film that triumphed at the Oscar awards in Hollywood on Sunday.

"The Hurt Locker," about a US army bomb disposal squad, scooped best director statuette for its director Kathryn Bigelow as well as the best film and best screenplay prizes.

earlier related report
Iraqis win praise for braving violence to vote
Washington (AFP) March 8, 2010 - The United States and Europe praised the courage of Iraqi voters for casting their ballots despite a wave of violence, saying the country was now moving forward to a democratic future. Iran called the vote a "victory" for all Iraqis.

Stepping out onto the White House lawn to make a special statement on the Iraqi elections, US President Barack Obama hailed the "strong turnout" and said the day would go down as "an important milestone in Iraqi history.

"Today's voting makes it clear that the future of Iraq belongs to the people of Iraq," said Obama, accompanied in the sunlit Rose Garden by Vice President Joe Biden.

Millions of Iraqis shook off the fear of bomb, mortar and rocket attacks that killed 38 people and turned out to vote in elections seen as a test of the war-shattered state's fragile democracy.

"We know that there will be very difficult days ahead in Iraq and there will probably be more violence, but like any sovereign independent nation, Iraq must be free to chart its own course," Obama said.

He promised Washington would stick by its timetable for military withdrawal, halving its forces to 50,000 by the end of August and pulling out all troops by the end of next year.

In Tehran, the foreign ministry issued a statement Monday calling the elections "a victory for all of the Iraqi people" and reaffirming "its comprehensive support to the Iraqi people in going ahead in their great and glorifying path."

"The success in organizing Iraq's parliamentary elections which was received with massive participation of different strata of the Iraqi people, political groups, once again shows that despite the existence of enemies' plots, it is the people who decide their destiny," it said.

The vote was the second parliamentary election held in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion. Partial results were not due until Thursday, with full results expected on March 18, according to the United Nations.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the pre-election bloodshed showed the challenges that Iraq still faces.

"The determination to vote has been significant. But the violence and loss of life shows the extent of the challenge faced by the Iraqi people," he said.

"The Iraqi people, voting in their millions, have made clear they want an effective, accountable and inclusive government, and one which acts in truly national -- not sectarian -- interests," he added.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner paid tribute to Iraqi voters, saying in a statement the vote "bears testimony to the will of the Iraqi people to move beyond the ordeals of the past, to reject terrorism and shows their determination to build a democratic Iraq that looks to the future".

Kouchner said France and its European partners "will be at the Iraqis' side in their struggle for reconstruction and democracy."

German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said, "The parliamentary elections are an expression of the courage and steadfastness of the Iraqi voters to launch democracy in Iraq and take their fate into their own hands."

"That the majority of Iraqis went out to vote in spite of the attacks deserves the highest recognition," he added. "With the elections, the preconditions for a democratic and law-abiding Iraq have been improved further."

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the turnout "reconfirms the commitment of the Iraqi people to a democratic Iraq" and pledged continued support to help rebuild the country.

"We remain committed to a long term partnership," she said.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen hailed the election as a "crucial achievement" towards building a fully democratic country.

"Regardless of the attempts of violent extremists, these elections represent yet another crucial achievement for the development of a full democratic Iraq," he said Monday.

Moscow said it was satisfied with the conduct of the election.

"This provides an opportunity to continue the real all-encompassing political process which is so necessary for ... the realisation by Iraqis of the right to independently control their own fate and natural resources," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Monday.

"Iraq's future depends on a development towards democracy and good security. It is therefore a big pleasure that so many people turned out to vote, despite the tragic terror attacks during the election campaign and on the election day itself," said Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere.

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