A political bloc led by populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a long-time
adversary of the United States who also opposes Iranian influence in
Iraq, has won the country’s parliamentary election, the electoral
commission said on Saturday May 19,2018
The Saeroon Alliance led by al-Sadr, the Shia who many US military officials hold responsible for the deaths of US troops, won by taking the most number of seats in the May 12 parliamentary elections.
Sadr himself cannot become prime minister as he did not run in the election, though his bloc’s victory puts him in a position to have a strong say in negotiations. His Sairoon electoral list captured 54 parliamentary seats.
The Victory Alliance, headed by incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, trailed in third place with 42 seats, several seats behind the Al-Fatih bloc, which won 47 seats.
Al-Fatih is led by Hadi al-Amiri, who has close ties with Iran and heads an umbrella group of paramilitaries that played a key role in defeating Islamic State.
The results were announced a week after Iraqis voted in a nationwide election, which produced surprising results amid historically low turnout.
Winning the largest number of seats does not automatically guarantee that Sadr will be able to hand-pick a prime minister.
Since no electoral list won an outright majority, negotiations to form a government are expected to drag on for months.
Parties will have to align themselves to try and form a block large enough for the parliamentary majority necessary to nominate a candidate
The Saeroon Alliance led by al-Sadr, the Shia who many US military officials hold responsible for the deaths of US troops, won by taking the most number of seats in the May 12 parliamentary elections.
The Saeroon Alliance claimed 54 of the
328 seats in the parliament, the most of any coalition. The Fatah
Alliance, led by Hadi al-Amiri, took 48 seats, while the Victory
Alliance, led by Washington's preferred candidate, Prime Minister Haider
al-Abadi, won 42 seats.
Al-Sadr,
who in 2008 was named as one of Time Magazine's 100 most influence
people, campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, allied himself with
the Communist Party and rode a wave of populist sentiment to victory. An
opponent of Iranian influence in his country, al-Sadr is also a
longtime foe of the United States and its role in Iraq.
Al-Sadr
was once the leader of the Mehdi Army, a powerful Shia militia, which
was blamed for some of the worst violence between 2005 and 2008 in Iraq.
Some of his militiamen fought and killed US and Iraqi soldiers. He
formally disbanded the group in 2008, announcing that it was
transitioning into a movement to oppose secularism and Western thought.
Sadr himself cannot become prime minister as he did not run in the election, though his bloc’s victory puts him in a position to have a strong say in negotiations. His Sairoon electoral list captured 54 parliamentary seats.
The Victory Alliance, headed by incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, trailed in third place with 42 seats, several seats behind the Al-Fatih bloc, which won 47 seats.
Al-Fatih is led by Hadi al-Amiri, who has close ties with Iran and heads an umbrella group of paramilitaries that played a key role in defeating Islamic State.
The results were announced a week after Iraqis voted in a nationwide election, which produced surprising results amid historically low turnout.
Winning the largest number of seats does not automatically guarantee that Sadr will be able to hand-pick a prime minister.
Since no electoral list won an outright majority, negotiations to form a government are expected to drag on for months.
Parties will have to align themselves to try and form a block large enough for the parliamentary majority necessary to nominate a candidate
No comments:
Post a Comment