Pro-Iran groups trail in election; top cleric gains
BAGHDAD — An alliance of Iraqi candidates representing Shiite militias supported by neighboring Iran has emerged as the biggest loser in the country’s national elections, according to partial results released Monday.
The results also showed the bloc of Iraq’s populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr maintaining the most seats in parliament, leading in several of Iraq’s 18 provinces, including the capital Baghdad. Al-Sadr, a maverick leader remembered for leading an insurgency against U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion, appeared to have increased his movement’s seats in the 329-member parliament from 54 in 2018 to more than 70.
With most of the ballot boxes counted, none of the competing political blocs appeared on track to win a majority in parliament and the power to name a prime minister. But as the results stand, al-Sadr’s bloc will be able to take a leading role in the political horse-trading to find a compromise candidate and set the political agenda for the next four years.
Al-Sadr’s candidates beat out Iran’s favored candidates from the Fatah Alliance. The Fatah group, led by paramilitary leader Hadi al-Ameri, comprises parties and candidates affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly pro-Iran Shiite militias. The alliance rose to prominence during the war against the Sunni extremist Islamic State group. It was not immediately clear how many seats the Fatah Alliance lost, from the 48 they won in 2018.
Voter turnout was 41%, a record low in the post-Saddam Hussein era.
The weekend’s election was held months ahead of schedule as a concession to a youth-led popular uprising against corruption and mismanagement. But the vote was marred by widespread apathy and a boycott by many of the same young activists who thronged the streets of Baghdad and Iraq’s southern provinces in late 2019, calling for sweeping reforms and new elections.
Many of the young activists who took part in the 2019 protests raged against Iran’s heavyhanded influence in Iraqi politics, including armed militias who rival the state’s authority. Many blamed the militias for taking part with security forces in brutally suppressing the protests, possibly playing a role in Fatah’s poor showing.
Al-Sadr, a nationalist leader, is also close to Iran, but publicly rejects its political influence.
The election was the sixth held since the fall of Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
There was a reluctance among young Iraqis to get out and vote. Many say the system is immune to reform and that the election would only bring back the same faces and parties responsible for the corruption and mismanagement that has plagued Iraq for decades.