KURDISH parties moved into second place in Iraq’s election count yesterday, strengthening their demands for a senior position in the council that will select the prime minister.

The results were undermined by revelations of vote-rigging and intimidation in the city of Mosul, where masked gunmen had burst into polling stations and stolen ballot boxes, stuffing them with their own papers.

In figures released from the Kurdish north, the coalition that includes Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Massoud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party swept their homeland, scoring 95 per cent in Dohuk province and 91 per cent in Sulaimaniya.

The final national result is not expected for several days.

The Kurds’ success reduces the share held by the United Iraqi Alliance backed by the senior Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. With 4.36 million votes counted, the alliance falls from two thirds of the vote to about 51 per cent, with the Kurds at 24.6 per cent.

It now seems likely that the Shias will have to work with other groups on the first task of the new 275-seat National Assembly, to gain the two-thirds majority needed to select the three-man presidential council that chooses a prime minister.

The Kurds’ success strengthens their position in horse-trading for either the presidency or prime ministership. In an internal deal, any such position will go to Dr Talabani, with Mr Barzani assuming a regional role as President of Kurdistan.

The Iraqi List of Iyad Allawi, the acting Prime Minister, is in third place with 13.6 per cent, but the picture remains unclear in Baghdad and Basra where he, as a secular Shia, might be expected to do better.

The scale of the Sunni boycott became apparent, with Shias winning even in Saddam Hussein’s former stronghold province of Salahuddin. There, the Sistani-backed Shia coalition topped the poll with 27,645 votes, against 15,832 for the country’s Sunni President, Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawer.

The picture in the divided northern city of Mosul was even more confused last night after Izzedine al-Mohammedi, an Election Commission official, confirmed that an investigation was under way into suspected tampering with 40 ballot boxes in the city, which is divided between Arabs, Kurds and other ethnic minorities.

“There were a number of polling stations where election materials were looted by gunmen, and workers in the stations were targeted by men with guns,” Mr al-Mohammedi said in Baghdad.

“They stole the boxes, tried to bribe the workers, stole election cards and returned them in irregular ballot boxes.”

Election officials also confirmed that only 93 of a planned 330 polling centres had been able to open for the vote, with more than 15,000 voters therefore unable to cast their ballots. The Iraqi officials were surprised by the high number of voters who defied the violence to go to the polls; despite scrambling 1,200 officials and equipment, they could not supply enough election materials in time.

Monitors said on Sunday that there was evidence of intimidation at 15 per cent of polling stations but that no one party bore particular responsibility and the ballot had still been free and fair. “Despite problems . . . the election appears to have been conducted without systemic flaws and in accordance with basic international standards,” the independent Election Information Network said.

VOTING FIGURES

Partial results for 13 of Iraq’s 18 provinces:

Total votes cast: 4,360,000
United Iraqi Alliance: 2,244,000 (51 per cent)
Kurds: 1,075,000 (24.6 per cent)
Iraqi List: 596,000 (13.6 per cent)

Times Recommends

• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Indian Army spends10m rupees on golf buggies
• Brüno toned down for 15 rating