Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's allies look set for sweeping victories in provincial polls, a result that could overturn the post-Saddam political order and strengthen the hand of a leader once seen as weak, according to Reuters. Although official preliminary results will not be published for days, leaders of rival Shi'ite parties acknowledged that Maliki's State of Law coalition appeared to be headed for a substantial win and perhaps a landslide in Shi'ite areas. "The results of the bloc of the prime minister: it was a surprise for many people. And I think ... it means a new power has emerged," said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh referring to initial reports of success in provinces across the south. "Nobody has expected that they (would) achieve this in Basra, in Nassiriya, in Samawa, in Kut. In this government, nobody had expected they could achieve such a result." A government official close to the prime minister said State of Law appeared to have won in all nine southern Shi'ite provinces, as well as Shi'ite East Baghdad. "The others are competing for second or third," he said. If confirmed, the results would amount to a crushing defeat for religious parties that have run Shi'ite provinces with little heed to Baghdad since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein. The prime minister, who campaigned hard with a nationalist law-and-order message in the weeks before Saturday's vote, would have strong momentum in his bid to hold on to power in national elections later this year in the majority Shi'ite country. A source at the electoral commission in Basra said that the State of Law slate was far ahead in early counting with 50 percent of the vote there, a dramatic lead in Iraq's second largest city and source of nearly 80 percent of its oil exports. Of dozens of voters throughout Sadr City interviewed by Reuters, nearly all said they picked the prime minister's slate.
