Ex-premier Iyad Allawi, whose bloc emerged strongest from Iraq's polls, launched talks yesterday with political foes in a bid to form a coalition, offering to work with any group "without exception".

Complete results released last Friday showed Allawi's Iraqiya bloc won 91 seats in the 325-member Council of Representatives, two more than Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law Alliance.

"There must be a strong government, capable of taking decisions which serve the Iraqi people, and bring peace and stability to Iraq," Allawi told a news conference yesterday.

Of coalition talks, he said: "There have been some talks, but they were only talks. Now, the negotiations begin. These discussions will be conducted with the different political forces, without exception."

Allawi promised Iraq would open a "new page" and establish "better relations" with its neighbours - Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Neither Iraqiya nor State of Law clinched an overall parliamentary majority and a protracted period of coalition building, which could take months, is now expected.

Allawi has appointed Rafa al-Essawi, current deputy prime minister and a member of his alliance, to lead negotiations over coalition formation.

He had said before the full results were released that he would not join forces with Maliki unless the incumbent changed his policies.

Allawi has confirmed previous talks with the Iraqi National Alliance, a coalition led by Shiite religious groups, and Kurdistania, comprised of the autonomous Kurdish region's two long-dominant blocs, which came third and fourth in the election respectively.

Maliki has refused to accept the results from the March 7 poll, insisting figures released last Friday night by the election commission remained "preliminary".

Security officials have warned that lengthy period of coalition building could give insurgent groups a chance to further destabilise Iraq, with deadly bomb attacks northeast of Baghdad which killed 52 people last Friday illustrating their concerns.

Allawi is competing with other blocs to be first to form a governing coalition after the supreme court earlier last week gave the green light for political horse-trading between all groups to commence immediately.

Maliki, who will remain on as prime minister in a caretaker role until a new premier is elected, said late on Friday the election results were "not final", and refused to accept them.

The incumbent previously called for a nationwide manual recount of votes, alleging irregularities of the tallying process.

"It's a very close race, they want to win," Gary Grappo, the head of the US embassy's political section, told reporters at a briefing yesterday.

Maliki "will pursue all means at his disposal through the established judicial process".

Grappo described Maliki as "someone who is in an extremely tight race, who still believes that his party has a chance and therefore is not ready to accept these as the final results."

"I expect him to wage a pretty aggressive campaign to present his challenges, argue his case in the hopes of changing the ultimate seat allocation that goes to court for certification."

Key dates

2003
March 20: US-led forces invade Iraq, which Washington and London accuse of harbouring weapons of mass destruction.

April 9: American forces reach central Baghdad, where they topple a large statue of president Saddam Hussein, signalling the regime's downfall.

May 1: US President George W. Bush announces the end of major combat operations, despite continuing violence.

October 2: Washington acknowledges no weapons of mass destruction were found.

October 16: UN Resolution 1511 legitimises the occupation.

December 13: Saddam captured.

2004
April-August: Clashes between coalition forces and militiamen of Shiite radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

April 8: The start of abductions of foreigners. More than 30 are killed.

April 28: Publication of photographs of Iraqi prisoners being humiliated by American troops in Abu Ghraib prison.

June 28: The US-led administration says it has handed over power to Iraqis.

2005
January 30: Iraqis vote in the first multi-party election in 50 years despite a spate of deadly attacks, but disenchanted Sunni Arabs largely boycott the vote.

April 6: Jalal Talabani chosen as president, the first Kurd to hold the office in Iraqi history.

December 15: The conservative Shiite United Iraqi Alliance wins most seats in parliamentary elections.

2006
February 22: Revered Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, blown up; 450 people die in surge of Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence.

June 7: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, killed in a US air strike.

October 11: A law creating a federal state is passed.

November 5: Saddam condemned to death for the execution of 148 Shiites in 1982.

December 30: Saddam hanged.

2007
January 10: Bush announces deployment of 30,000 more troops in a 'surge' strategy.

August 14: More than 400 people killed by suicide truck bombs targeting the Yazidi sect.

September 3: British troops withdraw from Basra city to an airport base.

2008
March 23, 2008: 4,000 US soldiers killed since May 2003.

2009
January 1: US formally transfers control of Baghdad's high-security Green Zone, a prominent symbol of the American occupation.

February 27: US President Barack Obama announces all US combat operations in Iraq will end by August 31, 2010, and that he intends to fully withdraw all American troops by the end of 2011.

March 31: Britain officially begins to withdraw its troops, culminating in a complete pullout in summer 2009.

June 30: US troops withdraw from Iraq's urban centres under a bilateral agreement.

2010
March 7: Iraq's electorate of about 19 million votes in parliamentary polls.

March 26: The electoral commission releases full results from the elections, putting ex-premier Iyad Allawi's secular Iraqiya bloc narrowly in front of incumbent Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law Alliance.