Election Results Are In

The people of Iraq have spoken.

The Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance ticket received 4,075,295 votes, or about 48 percent of the total cast, Iraqi election officials said. The Kurdistan Alliance, a coalition of two main Kurdish factions, was second with 2,175,551 votes, or 26 percent, and the Iraqi List headed by the U.S.-backed Allawi finished third with 1,168,943 votes, or about 14 percent.

Those three top finishers represent about 88 percent of the total, making them the main power brokers as the assembly chooses national leaders and writes a constitution.

About 58% of eligible voters cast ballots, despite a Sunni call for boycotts. natureally, of course, Sunnis are unhappy and question the legitimacy the results.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera television, Mohammed Bashar of the anti-American Association of Muslim Scholars said the fact that there were no international or U.N. monitors in Iraq made him question the figures.

"Those who boycotted the elections are more than those who took part in it," he said. "Boycotting the election does not mean that the boycotter will renounce his rights."

In other words, we engaged in an electoral crap-shoot and lost, so we plan on continuing to engage in terrorism against the British, Americans, and the Shiite majority that we oppressed during the Saddam years.

What comes next?

CONSTITUTION REFERENDUM AND THE NEXT ELECTIONS: Iraqis will vote on the proposed constitution by Oct. 15. If they approve, elections for a permanent government to replace the assembly will be held in December. If voters reject the charter, the National Assembly will be dissolved and a new transitional assembly will be elected in December to take another stab at constitution-writing.

In other words, these poor, "disenfranchised" Sunnis who sided with the terrorists will get a chance to vote on the Constitution and potentially derail it -- and then will be able to vote in the elections that follow.