Maliki Wins Most Seats, But Falls Short of A Majority

Iraqi Parliamentary Elections

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shia-led State of Law coalition has won 92 seats in Iraq’s 328-seat parliament, or 28 percent of the seats. The parliamentary elections were held on 30 April and the final results were announced today.

The anti-Maliki Shia groups led by ISCI’s Ammar al-Hakim and Sadr Movement led by Moqtada al-Sadr together won 57 seats, or 18 percent.

The Mutahidoun bloc led by Sunni Arab Speaker of Parliament, Osama al-Nujaifi, ended up with 23 seats; former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s Wataniya list won 21, and the Arabiya list of Sunni Arab Deputy PM Saleh al-Mutlaq got 10 seats. Smaller Sunni Arab-led groups won 10 seats. Together the Sunni Arab-led groups won 64 seats, or 19 percent. There were no voting in parts of Sunni-dominated Anbar province where ISIL controls Fallujah and parts of Ramadi.

Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Massoud Barzani captured 25 seats, with Patriot Union of Kurdistan of Jalal Talibani with 21, and Nawshirvan Mustafa’s Gorran Party with 9 seats. Two smaller Kurdish parties finished with 7 seats. Together the Kurdish parties won 62 seats, or 19 percent.

Independents won 53 seats, or 16 percent.

Maliki will now try to form his third government. But strong opposition from Hakim and Sadr as well as some Sunni and Kurdish groups might prevent him from doing so. Already all major players with large number of seats are meeting to form a working coalition in the next parliament.

62 percent of the 22 million eligible voters had cast ballot in the first parliamentary election since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011.

Photo credit: An electoral worker in Baghdad. 4 May 2014. (Khalid Mohammad/AP)