Nouri Maliki | featured news

Members of the growing Sunni protest movement decried Shiite political dominance.

A coalition led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was winning in the all-important capital and a Shiite province in the south, according to a partial tally of election results released Saturday.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates visited as Baghdad was reeling from bombings and U.S. forces are beginning to prepare for withdrawals this spring.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's party scored a sweeping victory over rival Shiite Muslim groups in provincial elections as voters rewarded him for security gains and rejected other Shiite parties' overt religious leanings, according to results released today.

The prime minister is credited with a drop in violence in once-lawless parts of Iraq.

A young Sunni man strolling along the Tigris River hesitated when asked whom he had voted for in provincial elections today.