By REUTERS

Published: Mar 11, 2010 23:22 Updated: Mar 12, 2010 01:11

BAGHDAD: Preliminary results from Iraq's national election began to trickle in on Thursday, showing Shiite Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki ahead in the country's largely Shiite south.

Preliminary results from the electoral commission, the first to be released, showed Al-Maliki ahead in Najaf and Babil provinces south of Baghdad.

But full initial results from across Iraq’s 18 provinces, including areas where support is expected to be strong for Al-Maliki’s rivals, were still unknown four days after a national election Iraqis hoped would bring stable government and help end years of sectarian conflict as US troops ready to leave.

Officials at Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said full initial results, which are to be made public when 30 percent of the vote is counted, may be released within a day or two. Final results may take weeks.

They are anxiously awaited by foreign oil companies making plans to invest billions of dollars and vault Iraq into the top echelon of global producers, and by Washington policymakers as the United States prepares to formally end combat operations by the end of August and leave the country before 2012.

The IHEC results showed Al-Maliki’s State of Law coalition with 124,734 votes in the two provinces with at least 30 percent of votes counted, followed by 103,583 for a mainly Shiite rival, the Iraqi National Alliance.

A secular, cross-sectarian list headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi got 40,916 votes. That list is expected to do well in Sunni areas in north and western Iraq.

A clear victory by any of the blocs is unlikely and negotiations to form a coalition government could take months, leaving the possibility of a political vacuum. ¬