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Iraq Shiites talk with Kurds; grave found
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-28 08:30

The Shiite religious bloc leading Iraq's parliamentary elections held talks Tuesday with Kurdish leaders about who should get the top 12 government jobs, as thousands of Sunni Arabs and secular Shiites protested what they say was a tainted vote.

Meanwhile, workers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala uncovered remains believed to be part of a mass grave dating to a 1991 uprising against Saddam Hussein.

The talks between the majority Shiites and the Kurds were seen as part of an effort to force the main Sunni Arab organizations to come to the bargaining table. All groups have begun jockeying, and the protests are widely considered to be part of an attempt by Sunni Arabs to maximize their negotiating position.

United Iraqi Alliance leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, foreground and Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region, are seen during a press conference at the council of Ministers in Irbil, Iraq, Tuesday, Dec. 27. 2005.
United Iraqi Alliance leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, foreground and Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region, are seen during a press conference at the council of Ministers in Irbil, Iraq, Tuesday, Dec. 27. 2005.[AP]
The discussions come at a critical time for Iraq, with the United States placing high hopes on forming a broad-based coalition government that will provide the stability and security it needs to allow American troops to begin returning home.

Sunni Arabs formed the backbone of Saddam's government, and the Bush administration hopes to pull them away from the insurgency that has ravaged the country with daily bloodshed.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Shiite religious coalition dominating the current government, traveled to the northern Kurdish city of Irbil for the meeting with Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region.

"Today, we held preliminary consultations," al-Hakim said at a joint news conference with Barzani. "All the details need to be studied and we need to evaluate the previous alliance and study its weaknesses and strengths. Then we will try to include the others."

A Kurdish coalition that includes Barzani's Kurdish Democratic Party and President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is now the junior partner in a government led by al-Hakim's United Iraqi Alliance.

Preliminary results from the Dec. 15 vote have given the United Iraqi Alliance a big lead, but one unlikely to allow it to govern without forming a coalition with other groups.

Final results are expected early next month, but the Shiite religious bloc may win about 130 seats in the 275-member parliament �� short of the 184 seats needed to avoid a coalition with other parties.

The Kurds could get about 55, the main Sunni Arab groups about 50 and the secular bloc headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a Shiite, about 25.

"Our goal is to have a partnership government that enjoys a wide base of support," al-Hakim said.

Asked about claims by Sunni Arab groups and secular Shiites that the Dec. 15 poll was tainted by fraud, al-Hakim said "we have agreed on this with our brothers in the Kurdish coalition. It is impossible to annul the elections results or to hold new elections. We don't accept this."
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