But allegations against Mr. Dulaimi and his party, the Sunni-dominated Iraqi Consensus Front, have been gathering for months.

"We blame the government, entirely," said Dhafir al-Ani, a spokesman for the Iraqi Consensus Front, one of bigger Sunni political parties.

The runner-up was the Iraqi Consensus Front, the main religious Sunni Arab coalition, with 19 percent.

Moreover, Mr. Mutlak said he had struck an agreement with the Iraqi Consensus Front to coordinate their positions in any negotiations over entering a new government.

"We will deal with this subject positively," said Mahmoud Mashadani, a Sunni and leading member of the Iraqi Consensus Front, which won 44 seats.

"When I talk to the brothers in the Iraqi Consensus Front and they want to pull out, against whom are you doing that?"

He is a hard-line member of the Iraqi Consensus Front, which has 44 seats in the 275-member Parliament and often opposes the main Shiite bloc on political issues.

The Iraqi Consensus Front, made up of religious Sunni parties, also has its supporters.

The potential partners include the secular coalition led by Ayad Allawi, the former prime minister, and the Sunni religious coalition, called the Iraqi Consensus Front.

During talks over the new government in spring, Mr. Mashhadani was not the first candidate for speaker presented by the Iraqi Consensus Front.