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The party of Shiite Muslim religious leader Muktada Sadr will be the biggest winner Iraqi parliamentary electionsAccording to preliminary results, officials and Sadr movement spokespersons increased the number of seats he has.
Preliminary results released on Monday showed that former prime minister Nuri Maliki looks set to win the second largest victory among Shia parties.
Since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled Sunni leader Saddam Hussein and pushed the Shiite majority and Kurds to power, Iraq’s Shiite groups have dominated the government and government organizations.
Sunday’s elections were held a few months in advance in response to the massive protests in 2019 that overthrew the government and expressed widespread anger at political leaders. Many Iraqis claim that these political leaders are sacrificing national interests. Get rich at the price.
But the record low of 41% of the voter turnout shows that an election promoted to seize control from the ruling elite will do little to overthrow the sectarian religious party that has been in power since 2003.
According to preliminary results in several Iraqi provinces and the capital, Baghdad, local government officials confirmed that Sadr won more than 70 seats. If confirmed, he may have a considerable impact on the formation of the government.
A spokesperson for Sadr’s office said the number is 73 seats. The local news media announced the same figures.
An official of the Iraqi Election Commission said that Sadr was the first, but did not immediately confirm how many seats his party won.
Preliminary results also showed that the candidates who stood out from the 2019 protests in favor of reform won multiple seats in the 329-member parliament.
According to preliminary results and local officials, the Iranian-backed political party has militias associated with the alleged killing of some of the nearly 600 people killed in the protests, and has won fewer seats than the last election in 2018.
Since Sadr won first place in the 2018 general election, his coalition has won 54 seats, which has strengthened his power over Iraq.
Since the American invasion, this unpredictable populist religious leader has been a dominant figure in Iraqi politics and is often a king maker.
He opposed all foreign interference in Iraq, whether it was the United States (he launched an armed uprising against the United States after 2003) or neighboring Iran (he criticized Iran for its close involvement in Iraqi politics).
However, according to officials close to him, Sadr is often in Iran and called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Washington maintains a force of approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq to continue the fight against ISIL.
Iraqi analyst Ali Ambori said in a speech in Baghdad that Sadr’s victory was not surprising.
“Muktada has been working hard to get ahead in the election. They [the Sadrists] There is a good election machine, and they use various means to achieve their goals,” Ambori told Al Jazeera.
“In addition, Muktada is not far from Iran itself. Eventually, all groups will sit together and form a government under the umbrella of the Iranian regime,” he added.
“Since 2005, Muktada has been a major political player in Iraq,” said Ambori, who explained that without Sadr’s acquiescence, no Iraqi prime minister would take this position.
However, Ambori stated that because “Sadr and his team are influential participants accused of corruption,” he does not think that Sadr will resolve the dissatisfaction of people taking to the streets during the 2019 protest movement.
New law, the same big party
Iraq’s elections since 2003 have been followed by protracted negotiations, which may last for several months, and help distribute government positions among the major political parties.
The results on Monday are not expected to significantly change the balance of power in Iraq or the wider region.
Sunday’s vote was held under a new law introduced by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, aimed at relaxing the control of established political parties and serving as independent candidates who support reforms. Pave the way. The voting area has shrunk and the practice of allocating seats to the lists of candidates sponsored by political parties has been abandoned.
But many Iraqis do not believe that the system can be changed and choose not to vote.
The official turnout rate was only 41%, indicating that the vote failed to arouse the imagination of the public, especially the young Iraqis who demonstrated in large crowds two years ago.
“I didn’t vote. It’s not worth it,” 20-year-old Hussein Sabah told Reuters in Basra, the southern port of Iraq. “Nothing can benefit me or anyone else. I see young people with degrees but no jobs. Before the general election, [politicians] All came to them. After the election, who knows? “
In 2019, after security forces and gunmen killed hundreds of protesters in suppressing demonstrations, Kadimi’s predecessor, Adel Abdul Mahdi, resigned. The new prime minister called a vote several months in advance to show that the government is responding to demands for more accountability.
In practice, facts have proved that even under the new rules, powerful parties can most effectively mobilize supporters and candidates.
Since the fall of Saddam, Iraq has held five parliamentary elections. The rampant sectarian violence that broke out during the American occupation has subsided, and ISIL fighters who occupied one third of the country’s territory in 2014 were defeated in 2017.
But many Iraqis say that their lives need to be improved. The infrastructure is in disrepair for a long time, and medical care, education and electricity are inadequate.
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