Diplomatist Magazine Diplomatist August 2018 | Page 41

SPOTLIGHT
under the direct occupation of the Turkish army till today
(similar to areas in northern Syria that have been occupied by
Turkey ((and others by the U.S. in the oil-rich Syrian regions
of al-Raqqa, Hasaka, and Qamishli)) – all under the American
and Turkish guises of fi ghting “terrorism”, mind you!!).
The widespread expansion of “islamist” terror groups
and the total lawlessness that racked nearly one-third of the
geography of Iraq – Anbar, Mosul, and Salaheddin – between
2014 and 2017, derailed the parliamentary elections for the
unicameral legislature which were supposed to take place in
2015. Thus, eight months following the liberation of Mosul
in the summer of 2017, new parliamentary elections were
the major parties/coalitions came to be as follows, with the
Shiite religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr coming in the lead:
• Forward or “Sa’iroun” of al-Sadr: 54 seats (In the
previous parliamentary elections al-Sadr had only 20
seats).
• Conquest Alliance “Al-Fath” or “Al-Hashed al-Sha`bi”
(New), which was formed in 2014 to counter ISIS, and has
been led by Hadi al-`Amiri (a pro-Iran Shiite): 48 seats.
• Victory Coalition “Al-Nasr” (New) , led by Prime
Minister Haidar al-`Abadi, (Shiite): 42 seats
• State of Law Coalition “Dawlat al-Qanoun”, led by former
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (also pro-Iran Shiite): 25
Muqtada al-Sadr, Sa'irun
Coalition leader, and Prime
Minister Haydar al-Abadi
held on May 12, 2018, for the 329-member Parliament. The
results of these elections thrust new groups to the forefront
of parliamentary blocks/seats. Yet, upon the announcement
of the results there were widespread accusations of cheating
and corruption in the election process which led to a new
manual vote recount. The results of that slow recount were
ultimately ratifi ed by the Iraqi Supreme Court on August 19.
Yet the results did not much change the outcome of the fi rst
count, with one alteration: the Shiite Al-Fatah or Conquest
Alliance, which brought together a collection of some 40
militias to liberate Northern and Western Iraq from ISIS,
gained one parliament seat (their 47 deputies in the fi rst count
became 48 in the recount).
Th e 2018 Mandate
Overall, the fi nal 2018 parliamentary elections results for
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seats (previously had 92 seats!, with a whopping loss of
67 seats compared with the previous election).
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Nechirvan
Barzani (a Kurd): 25 seats.
Iraqi National Accord, or National Coalition for short,
led by Iyad `Allawi, a secular Shiite and former Ba`thist:
21 seats.
National Wisdom Party, previously known as Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), led
now by `Ammar al-Hakim (a Shiite clergy): 19 seats.
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), led by Kosrat Rasul
`Ali: 18 seats
Arab Decision Alliance, led by Osama al-Nujaifi (Sunni):
14 seats
Anbar Is Our Identity, led by Jamal al-Karboli (Sunni):
6 seats
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 6 • Issue 8 • August 2018, Noida • 41