Preliminary election returns show Iraqi voters divided along ethnic and religious lines with a commanding lead held by the religious Shia coalition that dominates the current government.
Early vote tallies suggested disappointing results for a secular party led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a US favourite who hoped to bridge the often violent divide that has emerged between followers of rival branches of Islam since the fall of Saddam.
As expected, religious groups, both Shia and Sunni, were leading in many areas - an indication that Iraqis may have grown more religious or conservative.
However, the ruling Shia coalition - known as the United Iraqi Alliance and endorsed by Iraq's most prominent cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani - looks unlikely to win the two-thirds majority, or at least 184 seats, needed to avoid a coalition with other parties.
A senior official in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the main groups in the United Iraqi Alliance, said the alliance was expecting to get about 130 seats.
"The United Iraqi Alliance strongly believes that all the various components of the Iraqi people should participate in the decision making, including forming the upcoming government. This means that the new Iraqi government will be a national unity government," Redha Jawad Taqi said.
Preliminary results of last Thursday's elections for the 275-member parliament from 11 provinces showed the United Iraqi Alliance winning strong majorities in Baghdad and largely Shia provinces in the south.
AP