The Wall Street Journal reports on the early results of the Iraqi election. Guess what, secular parties are losing at about a 6:1 ratio. Oh well, nice try Mr. Bush.

The results show that the votes were divided along ethnic and sectarian lines. The commission didn't say how many people voted overall or provide further details.

In Baghdad province, results from 89% of the ballot boxes showed the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance ahead with 58% of the vote in Iraq's biggest electoral district. The electoral commission said the alliance received 1,403,901 votes, followed by the Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front with 451,782 votes, and former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's Iraqi National List ticket with 327,174 votes.

Baghdad is Iraq's biggest electoral district with 2,161 candidates running for 59 of parliament's 275 seats. The province is mixed but has a large Shiite population, with many of them living in the capital's sprawling Sadr City.

Results from southern Basra province, also mixed but predominantly Shiite, saw the clergy-backed alliance significantly ahead, winning 612,206 votes with 98% of ballot boxes counted. Mr. Allawi, a secular Shiite, was in second place with 87,134 votes, while the accordance party trailed with 36,997.

Wow, Allawi, the secular candidate got about one sixth as many votes as the Shiite parties did in Basra. In Baghdad, which I'm guessing represents an Iraqi urbanite population, the secular candidates got about one fifth the number of votes as the religious Sunni and Shiite parties. Ouch. Let us welcome a new Iran to the world community of nations.