Saturday's voting came six months after provincial elections have been held in the majority of Iraq, and at a time when the US military is decreasing its troops in a plan to pull all soldiers out of Iraq no later than 2011.

But tensions remain between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the central government over Kurds' claims to disputed areas, including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and regions in Diyala, Nineveh and Salahuddin provinces.