allawi

Mr. Allawi did not specify who would be going on trial and it has not been disclosed when Saddam Hussein himself might face trial.

Several loud explosions echoed across the city as26- year-old Lamia Allawi prepared to enter a primary school turned into a polling center.

Overall, he may control up to 40 seats, perhaps enough to give Mr Maliki or Mr Allawi a majority together with the Kurds.

And that's exactly why Allawi shuttled to Damascus for the meeting: He needs Sadr if he hopes to become prime minister.

Ms. Allawi says it is the on-going insecurity and violence that have convinced her to vote.

Mr Allawi, himself a Shia Muslim, believes the mystical (or Sufi) tradition must be an integral part of the revival of Islamic civilisation.

Mr Sadr has spoken by telephone to Mr Allawi to try to persuade him to endorse and join a Maliki-led block.

Mr Allawi says the National Alliance tried to remove some of his allies from the ballot the night before the poll.

The Shias would be foolish not to give Mr Allawi and his Sunni supporters a clutch of decent jobs.

Yet even the minnow parties may suddenly acquire influence if the coalition of Mr Allawi or Mr Maliki falls just shy of a majority.

But Iraq's Sunni minority would be outraged if Mr Allawi, a secular Shia with strong Sunni support, were excluded from a government.

No one had wanted to believe in the justice of the enterprise, and in its ultimate success, more fervently than Mr Allawi.

There have been some reports of cheating, including accusations made by the Iraqiya coalition of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

Bashar al-Ageidi was elected in March and was part of the secular alliance headed by the former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

The CPA handed sovereignty to an interim government under Iyad Allawi, selected on the advice of the United Nations.

Allawi said that he wanted Maliki to apologize for referring to Iraqiya as a representative of Iraq's Sunni voters.

Rival alliances led by the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, and by Iyad Allawi, a more secular predecessor, scored well.

First, the Kurds have kept their role as kingmakers and may have insisted on giving Mr Allawi's team a powerful presence in government.

That is, until Sadr met with Ayad Allawi, a top contender for the prime minister post in Iraq and one of the cleric's sworn enemies.

Mr Mutlaq had a promising liaison with Iyad Allawi, a Shia, who was a tough, secular-minded former prime minister.

Prime Minister [Iyad] Allawi has been quite clear about this.

A growing number of Iraqis want a government of national unity to include both Mr Maliki and Mr Allawi.

One is led by Iyad Allawi, a keenly secular Shia and former Baathist who was a prime minister after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia may try to oblige but Iran, which dislikes Mr Allawi, has been scheming to keep him out.

As the winner of most parliamentary seats, Mr Allawi looks better suited to lead the country.

Support for Mr Allawi, a secular Shia who once belonged to Saddam's Baath party, exceeded expectations.

Mr Allawi is a moderate but, unlike Mr Chalabi, he is no secularist.

Perhaps instead he could woo members of Mr Allawi's more secular alliance.

And the outgoing Americans, albeit that their clout is fading, would prefer Mr Allawi to have the job.

Mr Allawi does not spare the occupiers.

But Ms. Allawi remained undeterred from voting.

Once fierce rivals Allawi and Moqtada al-Sadr met in Damascus in mid-August 2010 for negotiations on resolving the election dispute.

But it strongly opposes Mr Allawi's anti-Iranian stance and in the past has quarrelled with Mr Maliki too.

People such as Mr Allawi, who put their faith in the invasion of Iraq, are entitled to feel betrayed.

Mr. Allawi, as former prime minister, was commander in chief from 2004 to 2005, when U. S. forces still controlled the country.

Mr Allawi's task may be trickier.

But the thing about Mr Allawi is that reasonableness keeps breaking through.

Messrs Maliki and Allawi may get around 90 seats each in the 325-member parliament.

Mr Maliki's aim is not only to take seats from Mr Allawi.

Mr Allawi, [who is in a position to know], narrates in depressing detail how . . .

whether the secular coalition of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi will survive as a major political force;

Allawi (left) and Maliki, always the best of mates