On the home front, the White House rejected calls from some opposition Democrats to lay out a timetable for withdrawing the roughly 150,000 US troops now in Iraq, saying that Iraqi security forces were not ready to replace them.

"We are committed to accelerating the process for training and equipping Iraqi security forces and making sure that they're ready to defend the country," said spokesman Scott McClellan. "There's still much work to do."

Bush discussed Iraq's future with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as well as two of his toughest critics on the war, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, said McClellan.

"All agreed that the election is a victory for the Iraqi people," he said. "All agreed that democracy in the region had taken significant steps forward with the Afghan, Palestinian, and now Iraqi elections."

Bush also spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and President Ghazi al-Yawar, and all three agreed on the need to include leaders of the Sunni minority to help shape Iraq's future government, said McClellan.

They agreed that Sunday's vote was "a great success," and a blow against terrorism, and that they must "make sure that the political process is inclusive of all Iraqis, whether or not they voted," said McClellan.

"They talked about how they want to make sure that Sunni leaders, for instance, are included in drafting a constitution and they want to make sure that the government is representative of the Iraqi people," he said.

Bush, who is expected to herald Iraq's elections when he gives his annual State of the Union address on Wednesday, is scheduled to meet with Blair, Chirac and Schroeder on a fence-mending trip to Europe in late February.

McClellan declined to say whether Bush had secured fresh pledges of support for Iraq from the European leaders, declaring: "That wasn't the purpose of the calls."

Chirac spokesman Jerome Bonnafont said that France was ready to "cooperate with Iraq, especially by training security forces and senior civil servants." Paris has resisted US pressure to carry out such efforts inside Iraq, however.

With the European leaders, Bush also discussed easing tensions in the Middle East, and "all agreed to support the positive steps now underway between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders."

The president also spoke to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who "emphasized that the United Nations was prepared to continue its support to the Iraqi people," said McClellan.

Annan specifically offered UN assistance as the Iraqi national assembly set to emerge from the elections works to draft a new constitution and for "efforts to reach out to all parties to participate in the political process."