Iraq's electoral commission has certified the results of the country's January 30 elections and has allocated 140 seats to the main Shi'ite coalition, giving it a majority in the new parliament.

As expected, the United Iraqi Alliance was the big winner, sweeping 140 of the 275 seats in the interim National Assembly.  Kurdish parties ran a distant second, taking 75 seats.  Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's secular Shi'ite party was third, taking 40 seats.

Eight million Iraqis voted, but the country's Sunnis mostly boycotted the election.  The United Nation's top official for the Iraq elections, Carlos Valenzuela, said in Baghdad Thursday that he hopes those who did not participate in the elections will join the political process in the next step of the transition.

The National Assembly will be in power for 10 months and will draft a new constitution.