The Iraqi Kurds are now the "arbiters" of politics in Iraq and can win the "big prize" of autonomy, Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's interim foreign minister, has said.

Mr Zebari, a leading official in the Kurdistan Democratic party, said he expected the Kurdish list to take 75-85 of 275 parliamentary seats and hold the balance between the main Shia list, topped by Abd al-Aziz Hakim, and the list of Iyad Allawi, the interim prime minister.