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Iraq | Shortages outlast election euphoria

TUZ, Iraq —Iraqis living in the Salah ad-Din Province are already pushing aside talk of elections, democracy, and the planned constitution to focus on ending the violence and securing basic—but so far unreliable—necessities like electricity and water.

Officials last week certified the Shiite coalition, known as the United Iraqi Alliance, as the election winner with 48.2 percent of the 8.5 million votes cast in Jan. 30 balloting. That gives the coalition 140 out of 275 seats, less than its hoped-for majority. Kurds came in second, securing 70 seats in a National Assembly. Current Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s candidate slate received only 38 seats.

Here in the Sunni Triangle, where voter turnout was lower and fear of violence runs high, election results and constitutional law are far from the minds of city officials like Abbas Salman Hassan, the mayor of Umarliyah. His town is suffering from immediate shortages. They are enumerated in crude English translation on a paper handed to a U.S. soldier by one resident: