Baghdad: Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi’s list appears to be leading in Iraq’s parliamentary election, followed by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr’s alliance, an election commission source and a security official told Reuters on Sunday.
The sources cited unofficial initial results.
Iraqis voted on Saturday in the first election since the defeat of Daesh inside the country. Final results are expected on Monday.
Turnout was 44.52 per cent with 92 per cent of votes counted, the Independent High Electoral Commission said – significantly lower than in previous elections. Results are due to be officially announced on Monday.
The Iraqi Kurdish Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party (PUK) emerged from national elections firmly ahead of its rivals in Sulaimaniya province, its traditional stronghold, initial tallies showed on Sunday.
The PUK looked to have won eight seats, sources in the country’s election commission said, well ahead of smaller rivals which had hoped for significant gains from Saturday’s vote.
Supporters of the PUK and Movement for Change, known as Gorran, clashed in the northern city of Sulaimaniya late on Saturday amid accusations of ballot rigging.
Initial tallies showed Gorran had won three seats.
Al Abadi, a rare ally of both the United States and Iran, was mainly concerned with fending off Shiite Muslim groups other than Al Sadr’s alliance, which are seeking to pull the country closer to Tehran.
Those rivals were his predecessor as prime minister, Nouri Al Maliki, and the leader of the main Shiite paramilitary group, Hadi Al Ameri, both closer than he is to Iran, which has wide sway in Iraq as the primary Shiite power in the region.
Unofficial results compiled by Reuters reporters in southern provinces also indicated that Al Sadr, a firebrand cleric who led a violent uprising against US troops from 2003-2011, appeared to be making a strong showing.
If the Al Sadr list finished second, that would mark a surprise comeback by the cleric. Al Sadr has a zealous following among the young, poor and dispossessed but has been sidelined by influential Iranian-backed figures such as Al Ameri. Al Sadr has kept Tehran at a distance.
He has formed an unlikely alliance with communists and other independent secular supporters who joined protests he organised in 2016 to press the government to see through a move to stem endemic corruption.
He derives much of his authority from his family. Al Sadr’s father, highly respected Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq Al Sadr, was murdered in 1999 for defying Saddam Hussain. His father’s cousin, Mohammad Baqir, was killed by Saddam in 1980.
Whoever wins the election will have to contend with the fallout from US President Donald Trump’s decision to quit Iran’s nuclear deal, a move Iraqis fear could turn their country into a theatre of conflict between Washington and Tehran.
Al Abadi, who came to power four years ago after Daesh seized a third of Iraqi territory, received US military support for Iraq’s army to defeat the terror group even as he gave free rein to Iran to back Shiite militias fighting on the same side.
If parliament chooses him as prime minister, Al Abadi will remain under pressure to maintain that balancing act amid tensions between Washington and Tehran over the nuclear accord.
Al Abadi, a British-educated engineer, was seen by some Iraqis as lacking charisma and ineffective. He had no powerful political machine of his own when he took office.
But the defeat of Daesh and Al Abadi’s campaign to eradicate Iraq’s rampant corruption improved his standing.
Even if Al Abadi’s Victory Alliance wins the most seats, he still must negotiate a coalition government, which must be formed within 90 days of the election.
Al Ameri’s Badr organisation played a key role in the battle against Daesh. But some Iraqis resent his close ties to Tehran. The dissident-turned-militia leader spent more than two decades fighting Saddam Hussain from exile in Iran.
His list is expected to come in third place, according to the election commission source and security official.
