Democracy in action, Iraqi-style

It looks like the recent televised shouting match has spurred Iraqi politicans into action:

Iraqi lawmakers elected a Sunni Arab as parliament speaker and Shiite and Kurdish leaders as his deputies on Sunday, ending days of deadlock as they sought to balance the country's predominant religious and ethnic groups in a new government.

The three were chosen by secret ballot, with lawmakers allowed to write the names of no more than three of five possible candidates on pieces of paper that were dropped into a box. The ballots were then read out loud and marked down, one-by-one, on a large, white board.

The three top candidates — Al-Hassani with 215 votes, al-Shahristani with 157, and Taifour with 96 — were elected.

Al-Hassani urged legislators to pledge their "allegiance to the country and the people, not to the party or the sect or the ethnicity." His statement was greeted by applause.

Pieces of paper and a white board, great stuff.