Maliki Iraq poll triumph marks shift from religion

By Mohammed Abbas - Analysis

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim voters chose nationalism and security over religion in local polls, backing allies of the prime minister in a vote that could give them the upper hand in parliamentary elections later this year.

Results from Saturday's election showed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's allies trounced the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI), which had dominated the Shi'ite south, by coming first in eight of the nine southern provinces.

Maliki heads the Dawa Party, an Islamist group, but the coalition it led in the polls made little mention of religion.

Instead it sought to seek credit for growing security and promoted a message of national unity to voters tired of years of sectarian bloodshed and a failure to deliver services under the largely religious leaders in charge since 2005.

"It's not a backlash against religion, it's a backlash against promises made in terms of sectarian identity," said Toby Dodge, an Iraq expert at the University of London.

ISCI, which has ties to a powerful militia formed in Iran, had said it expected to do well in the vote. Instead, Maliki's coalition routed it from its stronghold in the southern province of Najaf, and won a landslide in the oil-producing southern province of Basra as well as the capital Baghdad.

Last month's provincial election was Iraq's most peaceful vote since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Big wins for Maliki's followers mark a major shift in Iraqi politics away from religious identity, pulling the rug out from under ISCI, once Iraq's most powerful group among the Shi'ite majority but which failed to come first in a single province.