The official election results from the Iraq elections are in.

The Shiite minority won the largest share. (128 seats out of 275, won by the Shiite coalition). The Kurds got about half the number of seats the Shiites did, 53 seats.

The big news is that the Shiite and Kurdi seats combined, falls 1 seat short of the two-thirds majority required to maintain a majority in the legislature. That means they will HAVE TO combine forces with the Sunnis (the sect that is most prevalent around Baghdad and the sect that Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party came from).

I love this. Cooperation between these three groups is the only way that Iraq can recover political stability IMO.

Also, it is interesting to note that the political part of the current interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi of Iraq (a secular politician) only got 25 seats.

Maybe there's hope yet!

News coverage:
NY Times Coverage on Iraq Election
ABC News - Iraqi election breakdown
RadioFreeEurope coverage