Muqtada al-Sadr’s party, an Islamic Shii party, is set to be the biggest winner in Iraq’s parliamentary election, increasing the number of seats it holds, according to initial results, officials and a spokesperson for the Sadrist Movement.
A count based on initial results from several Iraqi provinces plus the capital Baghdad, verified by local government officials, suggested al-Sadr had won more than 70 seats, which if confirmed could give him considerable influence in forming a government, while former Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, looked set to have the next largest win among Shia parties, the initial results showed on Monday.
Iraq’s Shia groups have dominated governments and government formation, in Iraq, since the US-led invasion of 2003 that toppled the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, which fortified the Shia majority and the Kurds, and catapulted them to power.
Iraqi election was held on Sunday, October 10, several months ahead of its official date, in response to mass protests in 2019, which toppled a government and showed widespread anger among the citizens against political leaders whom many Iraqis said have used their positions to drown Iraq in corruption.
The initial results also showed that pro-reform candidates who emerged from the 2019 protests had gained several seats in the 329-member parliament.
The fifth Iraqi election since 2003 was held under a new law billed by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi as a way to enhance chances of independent, pro-reform candidates, to join the parliament. Voting districts were made smaller, and the practice of awarding seats to lists of candidates sponsored by parties was abandoned.
Following 11 hours of vote, polls closed at 6 pm on Sunday; with some 41 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in Sunday’s election, according to the Iraqi election commission, registering one of the lowest turnouts in years amid waning support for the promise of democratic system after the toppling of Saddam’s regime.
The result is not expected to dramatically change the political scene in Iraq or in the wider region, as elections in Iraq, since 2003, have been followed by protracted negotiations that can last months and serve to distribute government posts among the dominant parties.
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