On Sunday 19th of August, the Iraqi Supreme Court ratified the results of Iraq’s parliamentary elections. The results were sent by the Iraqi High Electoral Commission (IHEC) on Thursday 16th of August after more than three months spent manually recounting the initial votes released in May. Iraqi President Fuad Masum must now convene the new parliament within 15 days of Sunday’s ratification.
In the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s ratification, the heads of the Nasr Coalition, Wataniya Coalition, Sairoun Alliance, and Hikma Movement announced that they had reached an agreement to form a nucleus for a political bloc as part of the formation of the new government. In the announcement, the parties emphasised that the new formation aimed to transcend sectarianism and reject the sect-based quota system.
In conjunction with this development, reports have been growing over the course of the week that the other major Shia coalitions – the State of Law Coalition and the Fatah Coalition – will announce a separate bloc, which may include the National Axis, the KDP, and the PUK. According to Naeem al-Aboudi, the official spokesperson for Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, a meeting was held in the Fatah Coalition’s headquarters with the leaders of the State of Law Coalition, the recently formed National Axis coalition and “some members” of the Nasr Coalition to negotiate the terms for forming the largest bloc in parliament.
Reports have emerged that the National Axis has demanded control over a number of key ministries as a pre-condition to joining should a government be formed. According to reports, the National Axis has told Fatah that as a precondition, Khamis al-Khanjar, a prominent member of the coalition, should be guaranteed the post of Vice President and Osama al-Nujaifi should be chosen for one of the Deputy Prime Minister posts. Additionally, the bloc has reportedly demanded control over the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Transport.
With Fatah desperately needing the support of “Sunni factions” in order to form a parliamentary coalition that can challenge the Nasr-Sa’iroun-Hikma-Wataniya bloc to become the largest bloc in parliament, the National Axis is using its leverage to obtain as much of a say in the next government as possible.
While these talks are ongoing, the negotiations remain fluid with all sides flirting with one another to form the largest parliamentary bloc.
For more information on this subject and other developments in Iraq, read our daily report.