There are indications that the State of Law coalition of incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has won 102 seats in the 328 seat legislature. If the results are verified by the end of the month, when the official results will be released, this would translate into a major advance for the coalition over its 2009 performance when it won 89 seats. At present Maliki requires 165 votes to secure another PM term and with this base he could potentially achieve that. Given the widespread conflict and spike in terrorism his success is surprising; however, it should be noted that many Sunnis who are opposed to Maliki boycotted the poll. Large Sunni communities in eastern Anbar also did not vote because of the conflict. This could account for Maliki's sudden rise.
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