Iraq's interim prime minister has met with leaders from the country's political and religious factions, and says he wants to ensure all parts of Iraqi society have a role in its new government.
Iyad Allawi's talks Wednesday included meetings with Sunni leaders, whose community largely stayed away from Sunday's vote. An influential association of Iraq's Sunni Muslim clerics says the vote lacked legitimacy because so many Sunnis did not vote. It says because of this, the elected national assembly will lack the authority to draft a new constitution.
Election workers are still counting votes. On Wednesday, the relative calm of the last few days faded as insurgents killed five Iraqis and blew up an oil pipeline. A U.S. Marine was also killed in action near Fallujah.