Over 86 percent of the 8.5 million Iraqis who voted on January 30th rejected the political candidates aligned with the Bush administration’s current hand-picked interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Some in Sistani’s coalition have also publicized their intention to rebuild divisions with Iraq’s Sunni population cultivated by Saddam’s dictatorship and exploited by the occupation forces.

Two major Kurdish parties and their coalitions received about 26 percent. The United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdish parties may combine for as many as 215 seats in the assembly. Bush-backed Allawi’s list won less than 14 percent.

The People’s Unity (Ittihad Al-Shaab) list of candidates, a coalition led by the Iraqi Communist Party, released a statement following the January 30th vote saying, 'At last, millions of Iraqis have declared aloud their adherence to democracy, laying the foundations for a unified democratic federal Iraq, and their total rejection of the dictatorial regime, as well as the values and agendas of despotism, bigotry and darkness.'

According to the Independent Election Commission, People’s Unity won approximately 8 percent of the votes lodged by exiled Iraqis, but only a fraction of that in the national vote. People’s Unity will hold two seats in the new assembly.

The Iraqi Communist Party is the country’s oldest political party and was persecuted relentlessly by the Saddam Hussein regime. Despite this, the ICP opposed Bush’s war on Iraq and the subsequent occupation. It views its current role as being deeply involved in the people’s struggle to end the occupation and rebuild a democratic Iraq.

As part of the People’s Unity list, the ICP has called for the new National Assembly to, according to ICP spokesperson Salam Ali, 'seize back control over security matters, as well as the economic policy and other sovereign powers, from the occupiers.'