BAGHDAD, Feb. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission announced on Friday the certified final results of the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.

   Adil al-Lami, head of the electoral commission, announced at a press conference held in Baghdad that confirmed final results showed the Shiite coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, remained the largest bloc in the new 275-member parliament with 128 seats.

   But the Shiite alliance is short of an absolute majority.

   Key Sunni parties, the Iraqi Consensus Front and the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, garnered 44 and 11 seats respectively while the Kurdish coalition received 53 seats, according to al-Lami.

   The National Iraqi List, headed by former prime minister Ayad Allawi, got 25 seats, he added.

   The final confirmed results came the same with preliminary results which were announced on Jan. 20.

   Iraqis headed to the polls across the country on Dec. 15 to elect their first full-term parliament since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

   After preliminary results showed Shiites winning the elections, some Sunni and secular Shiite parties complained of electoral fraud and staged demonstrations.

   But an international expert team later announced only occasional electoral irregularities in the ballot and said that the overall election results would not be affected.

   The newly-elected legislature is to convene within two weeks after the announcement of the certified final election results and the parliament is to elect a new president within 30 days after being sworn in, according to the constitution.

   The new president then has 15 days to designate a new prime minister who will then have 30 days to form a cabinet list to be voted on by the parliament.

   Just as the election results were announced, a big car bomb explosion rocked southern Baghdad, killing four people and wounding over a dozen others. Enditem