Al-Sadr, militant turned populist cleric, wins Iraqi election

(19 May 2018) Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's political coalition has won the most seats in Iraq's national parliamentary elections, according to complete results released by Iraq's electoral commission early on Saturday. Riyadh al-Badran, the head of Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission, announced the results to the media at a press conference. In Baghdad, Iraq's most populous region, al-Sadr's Sairoon alliance mirrored its success across the rest of the country capturing 17 of the 54 total seats the alliance is now expected to have in the national assembly. The final results came nearly a week after Iraqis cast their votes on May 12 and put Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in third place, according to seat allocations. An alliance of candidates with close ties to mostly Iranian-backed paramilitary forces came in second. "Your vote is an honour for us," al-Sadr said in a statement released on Twitter just moments after the official announcement. The election win marks the most significant victory of al-Sadr's political career. Partial results were announced earlier in the week, but allegations of irregularities and fraud delayed the complete count. The vote was marked by record low turnout that benefited al-Sadr who maintains loyal supporters who made it out to the polls when apathy kept many millions away. No one alliance won an outright majority and negotiations over forming the government are expected to drag on for months as parties try to form a bloc large enough to gain a majority in parliament. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...