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With over half the votes counted it appears that the list of candidates proposed by popular Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is in the lead to win Iraq’s parliamentary elections, according to Reuters.
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Shi’ite militia leader Hadi al-Amiri’s bloc, who has the support of Iran, seems to be in second place, and current Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is in third, though the High Electoral Commission initially had him in the lead as the ballots from 10 out of Iraq’s 18 provinces have been counted.
Turnout to Saturday’s election was 44.52 percent, reported the electoral commission, significantly lower than in previous elections. Full parliamentary results aren’t due to be announced until Monday.
The two front-runners - Sadr and Amiri both came in first in four of the 10 provinces counted so far, but Sadr’s bloc won significantly more votes in the capital Baghdad, which has the highest number of parliamentary seats. Abadi came in fifth in the capital, but his bloc was anticipated to lead in the elections as these are the first polls to take place since Abadi’s government defeated the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the country.
In Iraq, the nationwide popular vote does not directly correspond to the number of seats each list gains in 329-person Council of Representatives of Iraq.
Cleric Sadr has earned a following among the young, poor and dispossessed of the country using an anti-corruption platform, even gaining unlikely alliances with communists and other secular supporters.
Whichever list wins, it isn’t likely that anyone will gain a 165 seat outright majority, so potential prime ministers and parliamentary blocs will have 90 days to form a coalition government. From there, representatives will elect a prime minister, but this isn’t expected to happen for several months.
Prime Minister Abadi will stay in office retaining all his powers until that time.
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