The Iraqiya bloc led by secular former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was leading in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh, early election results showed on Saturday.

The initial result based on a count of 15 percent of votes cast in Sunday's poll makes the predominantly Sunni Arab Nineveh, which also has a sizable Kurdish and Christian population, the third province in which Allawi's alliance was ahead.

The Kurdistania alliance was in second place in the province, with the National Concord Front, Iraq's main Sunni bloc, third, according to the results released by the national election commission.

Although the preliminary figures represent less than one-third of all votes cast nationwide, they have put Premier Nuri al-Maliki's alliance in pole position in the race for the top job.

Allawi is so far his only serious potential rival.

-AFP/NOW Lebanon