President Jalal Talabani met with representatives from the two main political coalitions disputing the results of the December 15 elections, the Sunni National Concord Front and former prime minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National list, as well as his own Kurdish Alliance.

"There is a crisis... and it is necessary to recognize there are problems rather than hide them," Mahdi al-Hafez of the Allawi list told reporters after the meeting.

Reacting to growing protests over the Dec. 15 ballot for a new parliament, Shia Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari urged Iraqis to have faith in the electoral process. He made the call after meeting with Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who announced the first of a possible series of US combat troop reductions next year.

According to preliminary election results, the religious Shia United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which dominated the outgoing parliament, will also control the next parliament. Final results are not expected before January.

The alliance won overwhelming majorities in the country's southern provinces as well as the key province of Baghdad, while Allawi's secular Shia list performed poorly.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the spiritual leader for many among the nation's Shia majority, appealed for calm and urged the setting up of a government of national unity, national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said after meeting with him.

Sistani said Shia-based religious parties should "work with other components of the Iraqi people to set up a government of national unity representative of all the country's main (political) families," related Rubaie.

Two dozens parties, including the main Sunni Arab coalition, Thursday called for a re-run of the general elections because of alleged fraud.