even more post-election problems in Iraq

MSNBC :

Kurdish victory could lead to conflict
Results anger Turkmen, Arabs in Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk

KIRKUK - A Kurdish-backed list of candidates on Sunday won a majority of seats on the regional council that governs this diverse northern city, a major political step in reversing the bloody course set by former president Saddam Hussein to make Kirkuk an Arab-dominated city.
But the highly contested outcome also could spark a civil war if the Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs who share the oil-rich city are unable to reconcile the political shift, their leaders said.
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"We consider it false elections and not honest," said Sheik Abdul-Rahman Munshid Asi, a representative of the Arabic Gathering, one of the parties running on the Republican Iraqi Gathering slate. "This will lead to . . . civil war in Kirkuk. People are angry and feel hatred toward the Kurdish parties because they worked on marginalizing the Arabs and Turkmen."
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The Turkmen and Arabs believe that the Kurdish victory can mean only one thing: that the Kurds will try to annex the city into their semiautonomous zone in northern Iraq, which has been outside the control of the Iraqi central government since 1991. They will fight such a result, many said, even if it means bloodshed.
Jamal Shan, head of the regional Turkman Watan Party and the top candidate for the Front of Turkman national slate, called the election suspect. "We cannot accept the results," he said. "There is a conspiracy against the Turkmens and Arabs."

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The problems in Iraq seem never-ending. Scary times, indeed...