Iraqi election results gave a Shi'ite Islamist alliance the biggest number of seats in parliament, but several short of a majority.

These are some of the leaders contending for office or wielding power from behind the scenes.

IYAD ALLAWI

Appointed interim prime minister a month before Washington formally restored Iraqi sovereignty on June 28, Allawi, 58, has built a reputation as a tough man who brooks little opposition.

A former Baathist who opposed Saddam from exile with help from the CIA and British intelligence, he has yet to convince many Iraqis he is no mere tool of his Western allies.

But his secular alliance came third in the election with nearly 14 per cent of the vote and political manoeuvring could still enable the Shi'ite politician to keep his job.

MASSOUD BARZANI

Leader of one of Iraq's two main Kurdish parties, Massoud Barzani is determined to ensure that a permanent constitution enshrines hard-won autonomy for the mainly Kurdish north.

His Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) guerrillas fought alongside US troops in the war that ended Saddam's brutal repression of Kurds, as did those of his rival Jalal Talabani.

The two leaders have shelved their differences to pursue a federal, democratic, pluralist Iraq. Their alliance, which won 25 per cent of the vote, ensures them a strong political say.

AHMAD CHALABI

Once a Pentagon darling, Ahmad Chalabi has fallen out with the Americans who had touted him as a possible postwar leader.

He has sought political resurrection in Shi'ite politics. Despite his secular, Westernised outlook he has cultivated top cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and the radical Moqtada al-Sadr.

An ambitious deal-maker, Chalabi aligned his Iraqi National Congress party with the main Shi'ite United Iraqi Alliance, which won 47 per cent of the vote, less than it had predicted.

ABDEL AZIZ AL-HAKIM

The leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Abdel Aziz al-Hakim tops the main Shi'ite list.

He has echoed Sistani's insistence that elections go ahead despite violence by Sunni insurgents bent on derailing them.

SCIRI has taken part in US-backed institutions since the war. Earlier it opposed Saddam from Iran, which supported its Badr Brigade militia. Hakim has led SCIRI since a bomb killed his brother Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim in August 2003.