Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s Prime Minister, savoured a stunning election victory last night, as improved security drew voters to his coalition and away from the sectarian division offered by hardline religious parties.

The victory in provincial elections will encourage him to run for a second term in office in the approaching general election, less than a year after he was derided in the West for his ambitious military crackdown on militants.

A coalition headed by Mr al-Maliki had landslide wins in Baghdad and Basra, the country’s two most important provinces. His State of Law coalition also came out on top in seven other predominately Shia provinces in southern Iraq, beating the rival Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI) in a triumph for secular politics over religious groups.

Preliminary results, issued yesterday, indicate a drastic shift in the political map nationwide, with Sunni Arabs securing a better representation after boycotting the last polls four years ago in protest at the US-led occupation.

Iraqis went to the polls last weekend to select new councils in 14 of the country’s 18 provinces. Turnout was a lower than expected 51 per cent but the election was heralded a success after it passed off relatively peacefully.

Final results are not due out for several weeks but should show little change with 90 per cent of the ballots already counted. Mr al-Maliki, the undisputed winner despite not running himself, appears to be reaping the benefits of successful operations to combat Shia militias in Baghdad and the south. Many voters praised him for restoring a sense of order to the streets after years of sectarian bloodshed.

Hasan al-Kurdi, 37, a civil servant and part-time barber, is one of the many voters who ticked the box of the Prime Minister’s coalition.

“The people want Mr al-Maliki because he achieved something that nobody else has, which is security,” Mr Kurdi said. “In addition salaries have improved, which pleases us public servants.”

Such comments are in stark contrast to the scathing remarks the Prime Minister received when he launched the surprise offensive in Basra last March. The Charge of the Knights was dismissed initially as an overambitious farce.

The gamble paid off, however, the militias backed down and Mr al-Maliki returned to Baghdad with his head held high and a new resolve to get tough.

He has since cracked down on the Baghdad Shia slum of Sadr City as well as Diyala, a restive province to the northeast of the capital that was a stronghold for al-Qaeda.

He also played a strong hand in negotiations with the United States on a security agreement, clinching a specific timeline for US forces to leave by the end of 2011. George Bush had initially declined any timeframe. In the provincial elections the Prime Minister, who heads the Dawa Party, which has Islamist roots, campaigned on a secular platform of law and order. Dawa joined up with a number of independent entities to form the winning coalition, which used images of Mr al-Maliki to promote its cause to great effect. Mr al-Maliki’s allies won 38 per cent of the vote in Baghdad and 37 per cent of the vote in Basra, according to the initial results announced by the electoral commission. Wins in the other seven provinces were smaller.

In contrast ISCI, another Shia party with a more overt religious leaning, did not win a single province.

It controlled much of southern Iraq for the past four years and is blamed by some for letting the militias grow so strong.

The party came second in Basra with 11.6 per cent of the vote. In Baghdad, however, second place went to a list supported by Moqtada al-Sadr, the antiAmerican Shia cleric, who also relies on religion to draw a crowd.

Elsewhere, power in Anbar province, once the heartland for the Sunni insurgency, went to a Sunni party led by MP Saleh al-Mutlaq.

A group of tribal sheikhs, who turned against al-Qaeda in one of the most pivotal moments in the war, came a close second.

The so-called Awakening Movement had threatened a return to arms if the incumbent Iraqi Islamist Party (IIP) had remained in power, accusing it of election fraud. The IIP denies the charge.

The electoral commission has said that it is investigating all allegations of foul play but so far has uncovered nothing that would jeopardise the results. Challenges to the outcome are expected to continue, with US officials warning of possible violence if certain parties do not get their way.

In a grim reminder of the dangers, a suicide bomber killed 15 people in a majority Kurdish town in Diyala only hours before the poll results were unveiled.

Farther north, Sunni Arabs won seats off the Kurds in the restive province of Nineveh, still a hub for al-Qaeda.

The victory will redress the balance of power on the council, where minority Kurds have enjoyed a disproportionate representation because of the past Sunni boycott, a disparity that has been blamed for much of the unrest in the area.

Once provincial elections are of the way attention will begin to focus on the general election due in December or January.

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