The U.S. ambassador publicly insisted on a "non-sectarian" figure to run the interior ministry. However, senior officials said outgoing interior minister, Bayan Jabor, had secured the finance ministry, despite hostility toward him in Washington.

A civil engineer powerfully connected within the big Shi'ite Islamist party SCIRI, Jabor will play a key role in efforts to revive the Iraqi economy, along with new oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani, a nuclear physicist and senior Shi'ite Islamist.

Maliki's Kurdish deputy prime minister Barham Salih, the outgoing planning minister, is expected also to take a big role in overseeing economic reconstruction. The other deputy premier is Sunni politician Salam al-Zobaie, senior officials said.

Ahmad Chalabi, an outgoing deputy premier, has not been given a portfolio but may have some role in the new administration, which could run Iraq for the four years until the next parliamentary election. Chalabi was once a

Pentagon favorite but has since fallen out of favor in Washington.

Senior officials said more than half the 30 or so ministries -- the number could change with final agreements -- are allocated to the Shi'ite Alliance, which has close to a majority in parliament but is divided among more than a dozen factions.

Sunnis, whose participation in the political process is vital after three years of rejection and revolt, have at least five portfolios while Kurds, who have the presidency, have about four, including keeping Hoshiyar Zebari as foreign minister.

The secular group of former prime minister Iyad Allawi also appears to have won four seats, negotiators said.

Followers of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a close ally of Washington's foes in Shi'ite

Iran, appeared to have secured at least three seats, including health, a post U.S. officials had hoped they would lose. Control of medical services has been an important element in enhancing Sadr's popularity.