IRAQI voters turned out in record numbers to elect a parliament yesterday and, in some areas, polling stations stayed open for an extra hour to cater for those still queueing outside.

There was little violence: only two people were killed in mortar attacks in Mosul and Tal Afar.

It was a rare day of good news from Iraq, but the exercise could yet be wasted unless the leaders of the country can form a working coalition government that reflects the interests of all communities.

Even before the counting starts, the politicians are jockeying for position in anticipation of the long and tortuous process of selecting a president, who in turn will choose a prime minister, who will then select a government.

After the elections in January it took the dominant Shia Muslim and Kurdish parties more than 13 weeks of wrangling to form a government, which has been widely criticised at home and abroad as unrepresentative, leaderless and incompetent.

This time the process is likely to be even more complicated because of the decision by the Sunni community to participate in the polls, thereby adding another dimension to an already complex political jigsaw puzzle.

Experts in Baghdad agree that the Shia Muslim religious party, the Unified Iraqi Alliance (UIA), will emerge from the election with the most seats, with about 100 in the 275-member parliament. The Kurdish Alliance is expected to come second, with about 55 seats, followed by the Iraqi National List, a secular group headed by Ayad Allawi, the former Prime Minister, with about 35 seats.

Tawafoq, the largest Sunni party, is expected to win about 25 seats, with a host of smaller parties and individuals taking the rest.

Once a president is chosen, he will ask the largest party in parliament to choose a prime minister, who in turn will have 15 days to form a government. The outgoing Prime Minster, Ibrahim Jaafari, wants to remain in the job, but he was widely criticised for being ineffectual during his tenure. A far more appealing candidate would be Adel Abdul Mahdi, the outgoing Vice-President and former Finance Minister.

“The government can be created only by a two-thirds majority in parliament,” Ismail Zayer, the Editor-in-Chief of the Baghdad daily al-Sabah al-Jadid, said. “That means the UIA will need to find at least two other major coalition partners.”

Much of the horse trading will be over which party secures which portfolio.The new Sunni members of parliament want key amendments to the new constitution pushed through as the price for their participation.

While sharing power among Shias, Sunnis and Kurds may provide the basis for a new way forward, Iraqis fear that ethnic and sectarian divisions could worsen if politics become dominated by communal interests alone. That could mean sharing some senior positions with Mr Allawi or members of his party, who represent a dwindling secular middle class.

In the back of everyone’s mind is the knowledge that, unless all key components of society are represented, the country risks slipping back into violence and chaos, or breaking up into its constituent parts.

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