Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Party Bloc Wins Iraq Parliamentary Election

Iraq’s Election Commission released the final results of last week’s Parliamentary Elections early Saturday local time and declared Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sayirun (“On the Move”) coalition the winner of the majority of seats in Parliament.

Prior to the official release of Iraq’s election results, the Sayirun Coalition was believed to have won one-sixth of Iraq’s 18 provinces. Al-Sadr joined forces with several allied blocs in Iraq to form a government.

Prior to Saturday’s election results, al-Sadr’s coalition, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s Nasr (Victory) Coalition, and Hadi al-Amiri’s Fatih (Conquest) Coalition were in a virtual three-way tie. Allegations of irregularities and fraud reportedly delayed the complete count which came in early Saturday morning in Iraq.

Iraq’s election commission declares results of Parliamentary elections held on May 12 https://t.co/lGFJOJuYCW

— Press TV (@PressTV) May 18, 2018

There are 329 parliamentary seats available of which five are reserved for the nation’s Assyrian minority. Per Iran’s state-run Press TV’s live broadcast of the election results, Kurdish outlet Rudaw listed the winners as follows for each of Iraq’s governorates:

Baghdad:
1.Sayirun – 17 seats
2.Fatih – 9 seats
3.State of Law – 9 seats
4.Al-Wataniya – 8 seats
5.Victory (Nasr) alliance – 8 seats
6.Hikma front – 4 seats

Karbala:
1.Fatih – 3 seats
2.Sayirun – 3 seats
3.Victory (Nasr) alliance – 2 seats
4.State of law – 2 seats
5.Hikma front – 1 seat

…

Dhi Qar:
1.Sayirun – 6 seats
2.Fatih – 5 seats
3.State of Law – 3 seats
4.Victory (Nasr) alliance – 3 seats
5.Hikma front – 2 seats

Erbil:
1.KDP – 8 seats
2.PUK – 2 seats
3.New Generation – 2 seats
4.Komal – 1 seat
5.CDJ – 1 seat
6.Gorran – 1 seat

Al-Sadr is both a long-time adversary of the United States and, over the years, has come out in opposition to Iranian influence in Iraq.

Despite winning a majority of votes, al-Sadr cannot become Iraq’s next prime minister because he did not run in the election. However, his political bloc’s victory now places him in a position to hand-pick the country’s next prime minister.

It is possible that current Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will be renamed the prime minister.

Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.