Iraq After the Election: Who Will Be the New Prime Minister of Iraq?

TEHRAN (Defapress) - The Iraqi parliamentary elections ended with the Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani party in the lead, and the Reconstruction and Development party won 41 seats in the Iraqi parliament. However, this number of seats is not enough to form a new cabinet independently, and Al-Sudani is forced to take into account the considerations of the Iraqi Shia coalition known as the "Coordination Framework".

Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, who was seeking a second term as prime minister in these elections, tried to introduce himself as a politician who could restore stability to Iraq after years and lead the country to success. In this election, Sudani became a rival, practically and paradoxically, to the coalition that brought him to power four years ago and was part of it again this time: the Coordination Framework Coalition.

In the 329-member Iraqi parliament, no party can form a government on its own, and therefore parties form coalitions with other groups to form a government. This is a challenging process that, given the history of elections held in Iraq, usually takes months.

The electoral commission announced that the final turnout in the Iraqi parliamentary elections was 56.11 percent. Sudani said in a televised speech after the announcement of the initial results: "The voter turnout rate is clear evidence of our success in restoring trust in the Iraqi political system."

After the announcement of the final election results, the Iraqi prime minister considered the victory to belong to all Iraqis. "Our party, Reconstruction and Development, is in first place, and we believe that Iraq is a priority," wrote Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on X.

According to the final results, the Iraqi parliamentary elections are the scene of a decisive and significant victory for parties aligned with the Resistance. The statistics obtained indicate that the Reconstruction and Development Party (Mohammed Shia al-Sudani), the State of Law (Nouri al-Maliki), Badr (Hadi al-Amiri), Sadiqun (Qais al-Khazali), National Wisdom (Ammar al-Hakim), Hoquq (affiliated with Kata’ib Hezbollah), and ... won more than 110 seats. Accordingly, the overall weight of the Shiites in the Iraqi parliament has increased, and, by winning 198 seats out of 329 seats in the Iraqi parliament, they have allocated 60 percent of the seats; a phenomenon that is considered a significant and surprising victory for the Shiites and the resistance movements.

On the other hand, the Hoquq party, which is an elite organization and, in their own words, qualitative, has increased from 4 seats to 7 seats, and the Sadiqun Movement has increased from 18 seats to 28 seats. In contrast, Sunni parties affiliated with the US, Turkey, and some Persian Gulf countries, such as Taqaddum (Mohammed al-Halbousi) with 28 seats and al-Siyada (Khamis al-Khanjar) with 9 seats, failed to improve their previous position in the parliament. At the same time, the Azm movement, led by Muthanna al-Samarrai and a group close to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), experienced significant growth with 15 seats.

In light of these issues, we are witnessing a complex and multifaceted process for selecting a new prime minister in Iraq. Iraqi sources, referring to the start of the process for selecting a prime minister and the confirmation of the final election results by the Federal Court, report serious consultations next week to finalize the names of the candidates for president, speaker of parliament, and prime minister.

A member of the Iraqi Coordination Framework coalition, Uday Abdul Hadi, introduced the number of candidates for the post of future prime minister as five, adding: "The number of names proposed has been reduced to five so far and this case requires at least four weeks of consultation and internal understanding to reach a consensus on the candidate on which consensus is reached."

Due to the fundamental consideration of the coordination framework that the prime ministerial candidate must be fully loyal to the Shiite coalition and must be free from personal ambition, we will likely witness the emergence of a new and unknown figure as the Iraqi prime minister.