The Iraqi election commission says the main Shi'ite coalition has maintained a strong showing in Sunday's landmark elections.
Partial results show the United Iraqi Alliance, which has the support of influential Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, with 2.2 million of the 3.3 million votes counted so far.
The party of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is in second place with less than 20 percent support.
The results so far are from mainly Shi'ite regions, and a complete tabulation is not expected for another week.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military says an American soldier was killed Thursday when a troop convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.
