BAGHDAD--Firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr may be Iraqs big election winner but he will still have to haggle with his opponents, linked to armed pro-Iranian groups, to forge a new government.
War-scarred Iraq, an oil-rich country plagued by corruption and poverty, last Sunday held its fifth parliamentary elections since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled president Saddam Hussein.
Sadr, a Shia preacher who once commanded an anti-US militia, had campaigned as a nationalist and criticised the influence of big neighbour Iran, which has grown strongly since Saddams fall.
The political maverick had initially vowed to boycott the polls but then sent his movement into the race, proclaiming in recent months that it will be he who chooses Iraqs next prime minister.
At first glance, his blocs election win would seem to reinforce that view. The Sadrists won 70 out of the assemblys 329 seats, according to preliminary results, boosting their lead from the previous parliament.
But analysts say Sadr will now have to come to terms with his adversaries, the pro-Iran Shia parties linked to the Hashed al-Shaabi network of paramilitary forces.
The Fatah (Conquest) Alliance, Hasheds political wing, lost more than half of its 48 deputies, according to preliminary results.
The results give Sadr an upper hand when it comes to politics and his negotiating position, but that is not the only thing that is important here, said Renad Mansour of the Chatham House think tank.
The Hashed has lost political power by losing seats, but they still have coercive power and that will be used in the bargaining, he said of the movement, which according to estimates has over 160,000 men under arms.
Despite the implicit threat of violence Mansour does not predict an escalation, but he warned, That doesnt mean that each side wont use threats and sometimes violence to show that they have that power.
Sour mood
Iraqi politics have been dominated by factions representing the Shia majority since the fall of Saddams Sunni-led regime.
They are, however, increasingly split, especially on their attitude toward powerful Shia neighbour Iran, which competes with the United States for strategic influence in Iraq.
The Hashed were formed in 2014 to fight the Sunni-extremist Islamic State (ISIS) group and entered the legislature for the first time in the 2018 vote, after playing a major role in defeating ISIS.
Opposition activists accuse Hasheds armed groups, which are now supposedly integrated into Iraqs state security forces, of being beholden to Iran and acting as an instrument of oppression against critics.
A youth-led anti-government protest movement that broke out two years ago ended after hundreds of activists were killed and the movement has blamed pro-Iranian armed groups for the bloodshed.
Washington, meanwhile, accuses Tehran-backed armed groups of being behind rocket and drone attacks on its military and diplomatic interests.
Among many Iraqis, the mood over Iranian interference has soured and Sadr voiced that sentiment after the election.
He attacked the resistance, the name pro-Iran armed groups give themselves in the Middle East.
Arms should be in the hands of the state and their use outside of that framework prohibited, even for those who claim to be from the resistance, he said in a clear reference to Hashed.
Rejecting election results
The Hashed and their allies denounced the election outcome as a scam.
These elections are the worst Iraq has known since 2003, charged the head of Houqouq, a party close to the Hezbollah Brigades which are under the Hashed umbrella.
The factions military spokesman accused Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi of being the sponsor of electoral fraud.
Amid the heated rhetoric, the political blocs are seen to be starting the process of post-election haggling aimed at forming parliamentary blocs ahead of finding a prime minister.
One pro-Iran figure and Hashed partner made surprising gains, former Prime Minister Nuri Maliki, who served from 2006 to 2014 and whose State of Law Alliance can count on more than 30 seats.
Fatah is looking at Malikis party and smaller groups to create the largest parliamentary bloc and nominate him as prime minister, said Hamdi Malik, of the Washington Institute for Near East Study.
This is very hard to achieve, but it can form their starting point to enter into negotiations with Sadr to secure a lot of positions in the next government, Malik said.
The most likely outcome, the analyst added, is a compromise PM with a lot of Sadrist control over him.
Political scientist Ali al-Baidar said that, whatever happens, Hashed wont be content sitting in opposition.
There is no culture of opposition in Iraqi politics, he said. Everyone wants some of the power.
Excerpt from:
Despite Iraq election win, Sadr still has to work with pro-Iran groups | | AW - The Arab Weekly
- Jackboot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- The US Government's Oppression of the Poor, Homeless [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- The US Government's Oppression of the Poor, Homeless [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2016]
- Protection, Oppression, and Liberty: How Much Government? [Last Updated On: June 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 19th, 2016]
- Oppression How Is it Defined in Women s History? [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2016]
- Liberalism and Conservatism - Regis University [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2016]
- American Patriot Friends Network APFN [Last Updated On: June 27th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 27th, 2016]
- Government news, articles and information: [Last Updated On: November 23rd, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 23rd, 2016]
- Opinion: While true oppression exists, hypocrisy of some women is clear - Shelby Township Source Newspapers [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- A Modern Choice on Life - Harvard Political Review [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- FG yet to address our forefathers' fear of oppression NAIG ... - Vanguard [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Understanding Information Oppression in the Era of Trump - MediaFile [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Angolans Bravery Broke Down Chains of Colonial Oppression - Minister - AllAfrica.com [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Centrelink bogus debts: How far can the vulnerable be pushed before they break? - Independent Australia [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Joe's View: Privacy, where next? - Digital Health [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Bill passage would rename Columbus Day, honor Native Americans in Nevada - Las Vegas Review-Journal [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- EFCC is an instrument for political oppression Ozekhome - Naija247news [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Collin Nji: The first African to win Google's CodeIn Challenge - Pulse ... - Pulse Nigeria [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Open Letter to NFL Players Traveling to Israel on a Trip Organized by Netanyahu's Government - The Nation. [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Turkey's HDP Women's Assembly issues feminist call-to-arms against 'one man rule' - Left Foot Forward [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Education Expert: Betsy DeVos Should Address Local Control Before School Choice - Breitbart News [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Student leader says 'black-on-black crime is not a thing,' wants to censor those who say it is - The College Fix [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- LETTER: Evangelical Lutheran Church respond to political cartoon - The Dickinson Press [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- Israeli Knesset 'legalizes' robbery of Palestinian land - Liberation [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- Organize to defeat Trump's Muslim ban - Fight Back! Newspaper [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Do we have a legitimate government? - Altoona Mirror [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Anti-Trump Swedish Government Accused of Hypocrisy for Kowtowing to Iran - Heat Street [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Israeli government awards the Israel Prize to 96-year-old retired Olympic gymnast and Holocaust survivor gnes Keleti. - Jewish Chronicle [Last Updated On: February 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 14th, 2017]
- Russ Boehm: This year, it's tough being a Boulder County Democrat - Longmont Times-Call [Last Updated On: February 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 14th, 2017]
- Anti-Castro Cuban-American lawmakers see a champion in Trump - The Ledger [Last Updated On: February 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 14th, 2017]
- Sweden's 'Feminist' Government Defends Veiling in Iran After Attacking Trump - Breitbart News [Last Updated On: February 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 14th, 2017]
- Do we have a legitimate government? - Williamsport Sun-Gazette [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- U. Mass Students Plot Strike Against 'Oppression' of Migrants - Breitbart News [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- As I See It: The perils facing the Constitution - Corvallis Gazette Times [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Us & Them: Love, the Ayatollah & Revolution - West Virginia Public Broadcasting [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Ethiopian Athlete Who Made Anti-government Gesture in Rio Reunites With Family - Voice of America [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Mottley: Tax clearance certificate an 'instrument of oppression' - Loop Barbados [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Sweden's 'feminist' government criticized for wearing headscarves in Iran - Washington Post [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Christophobia: A Global Perspective - FrontPage Magazine [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- Fox News' Todd Starnes Redefines 'The Deplorables' - Forward [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- Turkey purge: dark cloud of oppression hangs over country's universities - Times Higher Education (THE) (blog) [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- The New Gambia: What's on and off the aid agenda - Devex [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Christophobia: a Global Perspective - AINA (press release) [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- AzaadiFreedom from Indian Oppression - Economic and Political Weekly [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Iraqi forces advance on Islamic State-held western Mosul - McClatchy Washington Bureau [Last Updated On: February 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 19th, 2017]
- UC San Diego Students Protest Visit by 'Oppressive and Offensive' Dalai Lama - Heat Street [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2017]
- We must all stand with Tibet The McGill Daily - The McGill Daily (blog) [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2017]
- Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere - Royal Gazette [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2017]
- Elders share experiences with oppression from their youth - B.C. Catholic Newspaper [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2017]
- In Trump's America, Christian proselytizing is another form of oppression - LGBTQ Nation [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2017]
- Amnesty report reveals excessive oppression in Kashmir - Daily Times [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- Grass-roots leaders join call for 'disrupting' oppression that hurts many - Catholic News Service [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- Governor Treen brought sunshine to Louisiana governmental conservatism - Bayoubuzz [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- I want an international probe into failed Turkey coup Fethullah Glen - Citifmonline [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- On finding freedom from oppression, fear - Davisclipper [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- Lateral Oppression Hurts Us All - The Lakota Country Times [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- Disobedience Checks Unjust Laws - The Oberlin Review [Last Updated On: February 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 25th, 2017]
- Cycles and Oppression - Patheos (blog) [Last Updated On: February 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 25th, 2017]
- Opinion: The Relevance of Orwell's 1984 - Emertainment Monthly (registration) (blog) [Last Updated On: February 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 25th, 2017]
- McAuliffe vetoes bill to disclose refugee records - WRIC [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2017]
- Another Jewish cemetery desecrated; what will the President say? Isn't the government supposed to help? - San Diego Jewish World [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2017]
- Transport groups hold nationwide transport strike to protest government's PUV modernization program - CNN Philippines [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2017]
- Monitoring group documents Turkey-backed profiling in Netherlands - Turkey Purge [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2017]
- The Sin of 'Just Doing Our Job' - Sojourners [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- What should we see in the ashes of the Standing Rock protest camp? - Liberation [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Opinion: Focusing on religious oppression in China misses the big ... - CNN [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Nepalese Student Suskihanna Gurung Portrays Chinese Oppression Through Photography - Study Breaks [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- ISIS Threatens China In New Video Showing Chinese Jihadists - Vocativ [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Focusing on religious oppression in China misses the big picture - Gant Daily [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Donegal Travellers Project welcomes government recognition of Traveller ethnicity - Donegal Now [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- This Is Why The Youth Is Picking Up Arms In Kashmir - Youth Ki Awaaz [Last Updated On: March 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 2nd, 2017]
- Saudi Arabia: Music video and government initiatives split society - Freemuse [Last Updated On: March 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 4th, 2017]
- From Latin America to South Africa: it's time for effective solidarity towards Palestine - The Daily Vox (blog) [Last Updated On: March 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 4th, 2017]
- Articles: Islam, the Veil, and Oppression - American Thinker - American Thinker [Last Updated On: March 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 4th, 2017]
- Focusing on religious oppression in China misses the big picture - CNN [Last Updated On: March 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 4th, 2017]
- Public needs to help get government back on track - Fairfield Daily Republic [Last Updated On: March 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 4th, 2017]
- The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal Hearings On Myanmar Crimes Against Rohingya & Kachin - The Chicago Monitor [Last Updated On: March 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 5th, 2017]
- Oppression in the Land of the Free: A Muslim Leader Speaks Out ... - teleSUR English [Last Updated On: March 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 5th, 2017]
- The Readers' Forum: Monday letters - Winston-Salem Journal [Last Updated On: March 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 6th, 2017]
- How America Became a Colonial Ruler in Its Own Cities - Vanity Fair [Last Updated On: March 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 6th, 2017]