Al-Sadr’s Sairoon bloc sweeps Iraq polls: Early results

By Amir al-Saadi

BAGHDAD (AA) - Iraq’s Sairoon coalition, led by opposition leader Muqtada al-Sadr, came in first in Saturday’s parliamentary polls, while the pro-government Al-Fatih coalition, led by Hadi al-Amiri, came in second, according to unofficial results.

Initial results indicate that the Sairoon coalition won between 54 and 56 out of 328 parliamentary seats, followed by the Al-Fatih bloc (between 40 and 44 seats) and the Al-Nasr bloc (between 40 and 42 seats), according to a source at Iraq’s official electoral commission.

According to the same source, the Al-Wataniya coalition, led by Iyad Allawi, won 29 seats; the State of Law coalition, led by Nuri al-Maliki, picked up 24 seats; the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Masoud Barzani, clinched 23 seats; the National Wisdom Movement, led by Ammar al-Hakim, won 22 seats; and the Al-Qarar coalition, led by Osama al-Nujaifi, captured 18 seats.

“These figures are merely preliminary; they are not final,” the source, speaking to Anadolu Agency anonymously due to restrictions on talking to media, said.

On Saturday, Iraqis voted in the country’s first parliamentary election since 2014.

According to Iraq’s official election commission, some 10.8 million Iraqis -- out of 24 million eligible voters -- took part in the vote, representing a turnout of 44.5 percent.

The polls were held under the specter of an ongoing economic crisis, chronic political polarization, serious security concerns and as thousands of internally-displaced Iraqis continue to return to their homes.

Final poll results are expected to be announced sometime later this week.