Results from Iraq’s elections were certified Thursday, and the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance was awarded a majority of the seats – 140 of 275 – in the new parliament.

Despite the strong showing, the UIA will still need to build a coalition government. The Kurds won 75 seats, and the more secular party of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi captured 40 seats.

Now comes the difficult process of building and running a government. Already there are signs of fractures among members of the majority party, and the election of Iraq’s president and two vice presidents requires a two-thirds vote of parliament. Those three then choose a prime minister and cabinet.

For the Shiites and Kurds, likely the foundation of a ruling coalition, the task is made especially difficult. Most observers agree that Iraq’s Sunnis, which account for about 20 percent of the population, must be incorporated into the government somehow. Otherwise, there would be little reason for them to resist the efforts of insurgents to destabilize the country.

But to share power will be tougher than just giving up a few seats in parliament. It was the Sunni minority, led by Saddam Hussein, that dominated Iraq for decades. It maintained power by using chemical weapons against the Kurds, by unleashing helicopter gunships against Shiites in southern Iraq and by assassinating Saddam’s opponents.

Those wounds will not be healed overnight. But if the Sunnis aren’t brought in, the insurgency could develop into a full-blown civil war. Already, experts say the level of sophistication and support for the insurgency has grown.

Estimates of hard-core insurgents that were presented to Congress on Wednesday put the number at 40,000, with another 200,000 part-timers. And despite the glowing reports on a relatively violence-free election, Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate that there were more than 300 attacks that day, doubling the previous worst one-day total. On average, there are 60 attacks a day. Last year, there were about 25 a day.

This isn’t a question of accentuating the negative. The election, in which about 58 percent of eligible voters participated in the face of violence and threats of retribution, should be recognized as a success. But 300 attacks is hardly the same as the “sporadic attacks” reported by authorities shortly afterward; and the participation in Sunni areas was minimal.

The governing coalition will serve for 10 months and is supposed to write a new constitution, a daunting process that will pit religious and ethnic rivalries against one another. At the same time, Iraq’s new leaders must balance the expectations of their constituents, who are unaccustomed to the compromises and the often slow pace of democratic governments, against the demands of an inclusive government that respects minority rights.