Iraq

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Landslide election wins for Iraq PM
Baghdad - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki won landslide victories over Shi'ite rivals in provincial elections, reflecting a seismic shift in the political landscape, preliminary results issued Thursday showed. Results showed big wins for the prime minister's State of Law coalition in the capital Baghdad and the second largest city Basra (Snip) Maliki's allies also scored smaller but substantial victories in eight of nine other Shi'ite provinces in the south.
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Moqtada al-Sadr 'to suffer heavy defeat in Iraq election'
Moqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand Iraqi cleric, who once posed the greatest threat to British influence in Iraq, has suffered a significant defeat in the country's local elections, results are set to show. British military and intelligence officials in Iraq are confident that Mr Sadr's political allies have been all but routed in the elections. Iraq held local elections last weekend which passed off largely peacefully with results set to be formally declared on Feb 22.
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