Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Chia Al-Soudani, claimed victory in the legislative elections on Wednesday evening, November 12. His list, the Coalition for Reconstruction and Development, finished first in the poll, with 1.3 million of the 12 million votes cast, according to partial results announced on Wednesday by the election commission. They will gain about 45 of the 329 seats in the Assembly, according to Iraqi media projections. The election underscores the popularity the head of government enjoys after three years in office during which he steered Iraq away from regional conflicts and launched a major reconstruction project.
Lengthy talks are expected to take place with other Shiite groups, as well as Sunni and Kurdish parties, to form a government. Al-Soudani is far from confident of being able to build a majority governing coalition that would allow him to win a second term. Since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, only former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has been reappointed (2006-2014). In previous elections, the winning party did not always succeed in nominating its candidate, as experienced by populist Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr in the 2021 legislative elections, who failed to form a majority coalition, after clashing with his Shiite rival.
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