Still No Election Results

The election results are suppose to come out today. It's 11PM in Minnesota so it has to be about 9 AM in Baghdad. It will be interesting to see what happens.

In the United States, the president is chosen directly in a single election. After he or she is elected, the president selects a cabinet.

Iraq uses a parliamentary system similar to many European countries, where the government emerges from the winning parties, which in turn appoint a prime minister. He or she then picks a cabinet.

There’s alot of trading involved. There are conversations like, "If you’ll join the coalition, I’ll give you the education and trade ministries." Or "If I get the finance ministry, you can have the ministry of oil."

In Iraq there are four main players - Nouri al-Maliki the current prime minister, the Kurdish block from the northern territories, Ayad Allawi the former prime minister selected by the coalition and the Islamic block who we know as Muqtada al-Sadr. Remember Sadr's Army which did so much damage and killed so many US soldiers?

The government will be formed from these four major groups. The division of power and who will be prime minister depends on how the seats in parliment work out.

The United States is most concerned that the process doesn’t break down into violence. So if the parties manage to peacefully form a government – almost any government – the U.S. would accept it.