2018 Iraqi parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 12 May 2018.[4] The elections decided the 329 members of the Council of Representatives, the country's unicameral legislature, who in turn will elect the Iraqi President and Prime Minister.[5] The Iraqi parliament ordered a manual recount of the results on 6 June 2018.[6] On 10 June 2018, a storage site housing roughly half of the ballots from the May parliamentary election caught fire.[7]

2018 Iraqi parliamentary election

12 May 2018
All 329 seats in the Council of Representatives 165 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	44.52% ( 17.48 pp)[1]
Leader Muqtada al-Sadr Hadi Al-Amiri Haider al-Abadi Party Parties Sadrist Movement Iraqi Communist Party[2] and others[3] Parties ISCI old guard Badr Organization Al-Sadiqoun Bloc Al-Fadhila Islah Parties Dawa (Abadi) Ataa Movement Hirak INC Alliance Saairun Fatah Alliance Victory Alliance Last election 34 – – Seats won 54 48 42 Seat change 20 (from the Al-Ahrar Bloc) New New Popular vote 1,493,542 1,366,789 1,133,912 Percentage 14.38% 13.16% 10.92%   Leader Nechirvan Barzani Nouri al-Maliki Ayad Allawi Party Kurdistan Democratic Party Parties Dawa (Maliki) IDP–IO Parties Iraqi National Accord and others Alliance None State of Law Coalition Al-Wataniya Last election 25 92 21 Seats won 25 25 21 Seat change 67 Popular vote 873,645 725,108 623,594 Percentage 8.41% 6.98% 6.01%   Leader Ammar al-Hakim Kosrat Rasul Ali Osama al-Nujaifi Party Parties Defectors from ISCI Most of Al-Muwatin Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Parties Al-Hadba Al-Hal IIP Alliance National Wisdom Movement None Uniters for Reform Last election 29 21 23 Seats won 19 18 14 Seat change 10 (from Al-Muwatin-ISCI) 3 9 Popular vote 547,223 616,232 368,633 Percentage 5.27% 5.93% 3.55%
Colours denote which list won the most votes in every governorate
Prime Minister before election Haider al-Abadi Victory Alliance Prime Minister-designate Adil Abdul-Mahdi Independent

In October 2018, Adil Abdul-Mahdi was selected as Prime Minister five months after the elections.

This election would be the last held under Webster/Sainte-Laguë method proportional representation, as electoral reforms passed in 2019 amid the 2019–2020 Iraqi protests created a district-based system, and sought to have representatives represent more local voices (as opposed to the entire governorate they were previously elected from), reduce deadlocks resulting from inconclusive coalition talks, as well as stop infighting amongst list members and a myriad of small lists from siphoning off votes and failing to meet the electoral threshold. It would also prevent parties from running on unified lists, which had previously led some to easily sweep all the seats in a particular governorate.

Background

The elections took place six months after a non-binding independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan, in which 93% voted in favour of independence. In retaliation, the Iraqi government led by Haider al-Abadi closed Erbil International Airport, seized control of all border crossings between Kurdistan and neighbouring countries and, with the help of the Hashd al-Shaabi militias, militarily seized control of disputed territories, including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Nonetheless, Iraqi politicians called for dialogue with the Iraqi Kurdistan government and force them to formally annul the results.[8]

The elections were originally scheduled for September 2017, but were delayed by six months due to the civil war with the Islamic State which ended in December 2017 with the recapture of their remaining territories. The largest Sunni Arab majority coalition, the Muttahidoon (Uniters for Reform), called for a further six month's delay to allow displaced voters to return to their homes.[9] A Sunni Arab MP described holding the elections at this time as a "military coup against the political process".[10] However, the Supreme Court ruled that delaying the elections would be unconstitutional.[11]

Electoral system

Members of the Council of Representatives are elected through the open list form of party-list proportional representation, using the 18 governorates of Iraq as the constituencies. The counting system uses the modified Sainte-Laguë method with a divisor of 1.7[12] which is considered as a disadvantage to smaller parties.[13] Eight seats remain reserved for minority groups at the national level: five for Assyrians and one each for Mandaeans, Yazidis, and Shabaks.[14][15] However, the Council of Representatives voted on 11 February 2018, to add an extra seat for minorities, in the Wasit Governorate for Feyli Kurds, making the total number of parliamentarians equal to 329.

In January, the Supreme Court ruled that the representation for Yazidis should be increased, although it is unclear whether this change will be implemented in time for these elections.[16]

International voting

Holding Iraqi parliamentary elections in Tehran

The Independent High Electoral Commission announced that Iraqis living outside of Iraq can vote in any of the 130 voting stations that were set up in 21 countries. 18 of the stations were in the United States, 15 in Sweden, 15 in Turkey, 14 in Iran, 13 in Jordan, 8 in the United Kingdom, 8 in Australia, 7 in Germany, 7 in Canada, 5 in Egypt, 4 in Denmark, 2 in Lebanon, and one each in France, Syria, Finland, Belgium, Austria, Norway, and New Zealand.[17]

Election day

Iraqi President Fuad Masum shows his inked finger after casting a ballot at the central polling station in the Green Zone of Baghdad, capital of Iraq, May 12, 2018.

A curfew was declared by prime minister Al-Abadi from midnight Friday to 7 pm Saturday in all governorates except Baghdad, where the curfew started at noon Friday.[18] A 24-hour closure of all airports and other border crossing was also implemented. The Iraqi airspace was open later on the day as well as the lifting of the curfew.[19] Election day in Iraq was extremely successful from a security aspect, as no attacks were registered anywhere in the country.[20]

Seat allocation

Seats are allocated to governorates as follows:

Governorate	Seats	Women	minorities
Anbar	15	4
Babil	17	4
Baghdad	71	17	2
Basra	25	6
Dohuk	12	3	1
Dhi Qar	19	5
Diyala	14	4
Erbil	16	4	1
Karbala	11	3
Kirkuk	13	3	1
Maysan	10	3
Muthanna	7	2
Najaf	12	3
Nineveh	34	8	3
Al-Qadisiyyah	11	3
Saladin	12	3
Sulaymaniyah	18	5
Wasit	12	3	1
Total	329	83	9

[21]

Campaign

Supporters of Sadr's alliance in Liberation Square, Baghdad celebrating after a successful election campaign

A total of 6,904 candidates participated in the elections, representing parties:[22][23]

Governorate	Number of Candidates
Anbar	383
Babil	338
Baghdad	1,985
Basra	522
Duhok	115
Dhi Qar	279
Diyala	259
Erbil	173
Karbala	197
Kirkuk	291
Maysan	105
Muthanna	102
Najaf	244
Nineveh	907
Al-Qadisiyyah	191
Saladin	332
Sulaymaniyah	211
Wasit	180
Minorities	90
Total	6,904

Alliances

As of 26 December 2017, a total of 204 parties had registered to contest the elections.[24] The deadline for registering coalitions was 11 January 2018.[25] A total of 27 coalitions were registered by the deadline, grouping 143 political parties, with registered parties not part of a coalition also free to contest separately.[26]

The ruling State of Law Coalition, which won the last election in 2014 with 92 seats, contested the election with two separate coalitions. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi entered the election as head of a coalition called "Victory" (a reference to the victory over Daesh); his predecessor, Vice President Nouri al-Maliki, headed the State of Law list.[27][28] Members of the Dawa Party, which they both come from, were free to support either list.[29]

Leading members of the Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces), mainly Shiite Arab militias who fought alongside the Iraqi army to defeat Daesh from 2014 to 2017, formed an alliance to contest the election. The Fatah Alliance included the Badr Organisation, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib al-Imam Ali—all key components of the Hashd. The Badr Organisation, headed by Hadi Al-Amiri, which had 22 seats, was previously part of the ruling State of Law Coalition from which it announced its withdrawal in December 2017.[30][31] The Fatah Alliance agreed to run jointly with al-Abadi's Nasr al-Iraq (Victory of Iraq) list, but the agreement fell apart after only 24 hours, reportedly over Abadi's conditions.[32][33]

Ammar al-Hakim, the leader of the Citizen Alliance, the third largest bloc in parliament, announced in July 2017 that he was leaving the veteran Shiite Islamist party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq -– which he had led since the death of his father, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim –- and forming a new "non-Islamic national movement" called the National Wisdom Movement (al-Hikma). All but five of the 29 MPs from the Citizens Alliance joined Al-Hikma.[34] The remaining members of the Citizen Alliance joined the Fatah Alliance.[35]

Muqtada al-Sadr announced a joint list with the Iraqi Communist Party, called the Alliance towards Reforms. This built on previous collaboration with the Communists since 2016, when they held joint protests in Baghdad against corruption and sectarianism in government.[25][36]

Kurdistan Region

Within the Kurdish parties, there had been significant changes since the previous election with the death of both Jalal Talabani, the long-time leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the second largest party, and the opposition leader Nawshirwan Mustafa. In September 2017, Barham Salih, a former Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan and deputy leader of the PUK, announced that he was leaving the party and forming a new opposition party—the Coalition for Democracy and Justice. The party was seen to have the potential to change the Kurdish political landscape. He said he hoped to gather all the other opposition parties, including Gorran and Komal, to challenge the governing KDP–PUK alliance.[37] The three parties formed a coalition called Nishtiman (Homeland) to run in the elections.[25] The ruling KDP–PUK alliance have agreed to run again as a single list and all the Kurdish parties in Kirkuk have discussed running as a single list.[38] However, the KDP announced they would boycott elections in Kirkuk and other areas they described as "under military occupation".[39]

Sunni-majority areas

Within the Sunni Arab parties, the main Uniters for Reform Coalition (Muttahidoon), led by Osama al-Nujaifi, which won 23 seats in 2014, is running again, although the Iraqi Islamic Party, led by Speaker of Parliament Salim Jabouri, has left this coalition to join up with former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's Al-Wataniya and Salah al-Mutlak's Al-Arabiya. The combined list was called Al-Wataniya. Other parties as well have left the Muttahidoon coalition including the al-Hal Party and formed various alliances in the name of the provinces they ran in, such as Salahuddin Our Identity in Saladin Governorate, and Anbar Our Identity in Al Anbar Governorate and Baghdad Alliance in Baghdad.[40]

Civil parties

Within the nonsectarian parties who aim to establish a civil state, the main alliance formed is the Civilized Alliance,[41][42] led by Faiq Al Sheikh Ali, which currently has 4 seats. The alliance consists of four liberal, non-sectarian, national parties, the People's Party for Reform, the Al-Etifak National Party, the National Civil Movement and Iraq's National Movement, and includes a number of independent figures. The Civil Democratic Alliance are also running in the elections as another major civil party.[43]

Christian parties

Of the 329 seats in parliament, five are reserved for the country's Christian minority. One reserved seat is allotted for each of five governorates: Baghdad, Duhok, Erbil, Kirkuk and Nineveh.[44] At the time of voting, only about 200,000 Christians remained in the country.[45]

Attacks

In early May 2018, ISIL claimed to have assassinated Faruq Zarzur al-Juburi, a candidate in the Iraqi elections. The attack reportedly took place in Mosul, outside al-Juburi's house.[46] This was later on proven to be false; due to a family dispute, the candidate was killed by his son.[47]

On election day, a roadside bomb in Kirkuk killed six members of Tribal Mobilization (ar) (a pro-government Sunni tribal force) and injured three police officers.[48]

One Iraqi border guard was killed by a bomb in the outskirts of Khanaqin in Diyala on 13 May.[49]

Two offices linked to Muqtada al-Sadr in Maysan were bombed on 15 May but there were no casualties since both offices were empty at the time.[50][51] It is still unclear whether the attacks were a response to the parliamentary gains in the election made by Sadr's coalition.[52]

On 16 May, a polling station in Kirkuk was reportedly under siege by gunmen pressuring them to change the results after the PUK was indicated to have won the province.[53]

Results

After the High Electoral Commission announced the results, there were claims of widespread fraud linked to the electronic counting of votes. The Council of Representatives held an emergency session and passed an amendment to the electoral law that cancelled the votes of internally-displaced and overseas voters and mandated a full manual recount for all other votes.

The Commission appealed to the Supreme Court. In a ruling on 21 June, the court upheld the full manual recount but struck down the cancellation of internally-displaced and overseas voters.[54] The final results were released on 9 August, with only minor changes affecting five candidates and two parties.[55]

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Forward	1,493,542	14.38	54	New
	Conquest Alliance	1,366,789	13.16	48	New
	Victory Coalition	1,133,912	10.92	42	New
	Kurdistan Democratic Party	873,645	8.41	25[lower-alpha 1]	0
	State of Law Coalition	725,108	6.98	25	–67
	National Coalition	623,594	6.01	21	0
	Patriotic Union of Kurdistan	616,232	5.93	18	–3
	National Wisdom Movement	547,223	5.27	19	New
	Uniters for Reform	368,633	3.55	14	–9
	Movement for Change	215,829	2.08	5	–4
	New Generation Movement	170,919	1.65	4	New
	Anbar Is Our Identity	144,182	1.39	6	New
	Movement of the Will	138,367	1.33	3	New
	Coalition for Democracy and Justice	123,184	1.19	2	New
	Ability Coalition for Change	112,965	1.09	2
	Kurdistan Islamic Union	98,278	0.95	2	–2
	Baghdad Alliance	98,354	0.95	3
	Kurdistan Islamic Group	96,876	0.93	2	–1
	Arab Alliance of Kirkuk	84,102	0.81	3	+2
	Nineveh Is Our Identity	83,102	0.80	3	New
	Civilized Alliance	82,824	0.80	3	New
	Turkman Front of Kirkuk	79,694	0.77	3	+1
	National Fortress Coalition	77,624	0.75	3	New
	Democratic Approach	70,195	0.68	1
	National Party of the Masses	54,135	0.52	2
	Banners of Benevolence	50,863	0.49	2
	The Passing	50,243	0.48	2
	Civic Party	32,584	0.31	1
	Saladin Is Our Identity	31,994	0.31	1
	Assembly of the Men of Iraq	25,837	0.25	1
	Babylon Movement	13,647	0.13	2
	Yazidi Progress Party	11,141	0.11	1
	Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council	7,293	0.07	1	–1
	Civil Democratic Alliance	6,535	0.06	1
	Chaldean List	4,864	0.05	1
	Rafidain List	4,077	0.04	1	–1
	Independents	465,641	4.48	2
Invalid/blank votes		456,467	–	–	–
Total		10,840,969	100.00	329	+1
Registered voters/turnout		24,352,253	44.52	–	–
Source: IHEC, Xinhua, DW

1. In total, KDP won 26 seats, since they also won a seat in Baghdad in the Alliance towards Reforms coalition.[56]

Baghdad Governorate (Including changes after manual recount)

Party		Total votes[57]	Percentage	Seats
	Forward (Saairun)	467,029	23.4%	17
	Conquest Alliance	264,669	13.3%	10 (Before recount: 9)
	State of Law Coalition	237,216	11.9%	9
	National Coalition	223,328	11.2%	8
	Victory Coalition	216,429	10.8%	8
	Arab Decision Alliance	100,560	5%	4
	National Wisdom Movement	100,279	5%	4
	Baghdad Alliance	98,354	4.9%	3 (Before recount: 4)
	Banners of Benevolence	50,863	2.5%	2
	Civilized Alliance	35,233	1.8%	1
	Democratic Approach	33,160	1.7%	1
	Civic Party	32,584	1.6%	1
	Movement of the Will	27,582	1.4%	1
	Ability Coalition for Change	21,903	1.1%	0
	Solidarity (Tadamun)	20,588	1%	0
	Others	73,653	3.7%	0
	Mandaeans seat	12,447	0.6%	1
	Christian seat			1
Total		2,015,877	100%	71

Anbar Governorate

Party		Total votes[58]	Percentage	Seats
	Anbar is Our Identity	144,182	35.9%	6
	National Coalition	63,076	15.7%	3
	Arab Decision Alliance	58,576	14.6%	2
	The Passing	50,243	12.5%	2
	Victory Coalition	46,513	11.6%	2
	Forward (Saairun)	7,684	1.9%	0
	Iraq Rescue Council	6,522	1.6%	0
	Solidarity (Tadamun)	6,164	1.5%	0
	Others	19,197	4.8%	0
Total		402,157	100%	15

Babil Governorate

Party		Total votes[59]	Percentage	Seats
	Conquest Alliance	132,421	22.5%	4
	Forward (Saairun)	123,001	20.9%	4
	Victory Coalition	88,753	15.1%	3
	National Wisdom Movement	75,637	12.9%	3
	State of Law Coalition	61,726	10.5%	2
	Ability Coalition for Change	33,620	5.7%	1
	Movement of the Will	23,451	4%	0
	National Coalition	17,264	2.9%	0
	National Movement of the Majority	14,847	2.5%	0
	Solidarity (Tadamun)	5,542	0.9%	0
	Civilized Alliance	4,840	0.8%	0
	Babylon Movement	1,254	0.2%	0
	Mesopotamia Coalition	1,069	0.2%	0
	Others	4,578	0.8%	0
Total		588,003	100%	17

Basra Governorate

Party		Total votes[60]	Percentage	Seats
	Conquest Alliance	151,616	22.4%	6
	Forward (Saairun)	121,103	17.9%	5
	Victory Coalition	108,143	16%	5
	State of Law Coalition	94,561	14%	4
	National Wisdom Movement	57,315	8.5%	2
	Assembly of the Men of Iraq	25,837	3.8%	1
	Movement of the Will	23,897	3.5%	1
	National Coalition	23,274	3.4%	1
	Construction and Reform	17,836	2.6%	0
	Democratic Coalition for Democracy	11,975	1.8%	0
	Party of Revenge of Allah	11,698	1.7%	0
	Civilized Alliance	8,002	1.2%	0
	Ability Coalition for Change	7,399	1.1%	0
	Others	5,728	0.8%	0
Total		676,163	100%	25

Dhi Qar Governorate

Party		Total votes[58]	Percentage	Seats
	Forward (Saairun)	157,763	28.6%	6
	Conquest Alliance	118,991	21.5%	5
	State of Law Coalition	83,789	15.2%	3
	Victory Coalition	81,575	14.8%	3
	National Wisdom Movement	56,361	10.2%	2
	Movement of the Will	20,024	3.6%	0
	National Coalition	13,577	2.5%	0
	Others	20,279	3.7%	0
Total		552,359	100%	19

Diyala Governorate

Party		Total votes[61]	Percentage	Seats
	Conquest Alliance	108,601	20.2%	3
	Arab Decision Alliance	103,625	19.3%	3
	National Coalition	84,213	15.7%	3
	Forward (Saairun)	53,923	10%	2
	Victory Coalition	38,690	7.2%	1
	National Wisdom Movement	29,090	5.4%	1
	Patriotic Union of Kurdistan	27,416	5.1%	1
	Diyala Challenge	26,339	4.9%	0
	State of Law Coalition	20,153	3.7%	0
	Solidarity (Tadamun)	11,929	2.2%	0
	Kurdistan Democratic Party	10,326	1.9%	0
	Others	23,450	4.4%	0
Total		537,845	100%	14

Dohuk Governorate

Party		Total votes[62]	Percentage	Seats
	Kurdistan Democratic Party	353,177	71.4%	10
	Kurdistan Islamic Union	43,417	8.9%	1
	Coalition for Democracy and Justice	25,656	5.3%	0
	Patriotic Union of Kurdistan	25,575	5.2%	0
	New Generation Movement	18,026	3.7%	0
	Rafidain List Reserved Christian Seat	4,077	0.8%	1
	Movement for Change	3,797	0.8%	0
	Kurdistan Islamic Group	3,627	0.7%	0
	Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council	3,483	0.7%	0
	Others	7,471	1.5%	0
Total		488,306	100%	11(+1)

Erbil Governorate

Party		Total votes[63]	Percentage	Seats
	Kurdistan Democratic Party	321,833	50.1%	8
	Patriotic Union of Kurdistan	79,727	12.4%	2
	New Generation Movement	70,848	11%	2
	Coalition for Democracy and Justice	50,561	7.9%	1
	Movement for Change	40,941	6.4%	1
	Kurdistan Islamic Group	36,855	5.7%	1
	Kurdistan Islamic Union	24,564	3.8%	0
	Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party Reserved Christian Seat	2,329	0.4%	1
	Others	14,779	2.3%	0
Total		642,437	100%	15(+1)

Karbala Governorate

Party		Total votes[64][65]	Percentage	Seats
	Conquest Alliance	76,679	25.2%	3
	Forward (Saairun)	74,820	24.6%	3
	Victory Coalition	52,674	17.3%	2
	State of Law Coalition	39,927	13.1%	2
	National Wisdom Movement	20,388	6.7%	1
	Ability Coalition for Change	12,261	4%	0
	National Coalition	7,646	2.5%	0
	Civilized Alliance	6,236	2%	0
	New Generation Movement	3,608	1.2%	0
	Others	9,969	3.3%	0
Total		304,208	100%	11

Kirkuk Governorate

Party		Total vote[66]	Percentage	Seats
	Patriotic Union of Kurdistan	183,283	37.8%	6
	Arab Alliance of Kirkuk	84,102	17.4%	3
	Turkman Front of Kirkuk	79,694	16.4%	3
	Victory Coalition	24,328	5%	0
	Conquest Alliance	18,427	3.8%	0
	National Coalition	14,979	3.1%	0
	Nishtiman coalition Movement for Change Coalition for Democracy and Justice Kurdistan Islamic Group	14,118	2.9%	0
	New Generation Movement	13,096	2.7%	0
	Chaldean Coalition Reserved Christian Seat	4,864	1%	1
	Kurdistan Islamic Group	4,631	1%	0
	Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council	3,810	0.8%	0
	Others	39,286	8.1%	0
Total		484,618	100%	12(+1)

Maysan Governorate

Party		Total votes[67][65]	Percentage	Seats
	Forward (Saairun)	134,430	42.8%	5
	Conquest Alliance	63,835	20.3%	2
	National Wisdom Movement	40,237	12.8%	1
	Victory Coalition	36,412	11.6%	1
	State of Law Coalition	32,213	10.3%	1
	National Coalition	1,972	0.6%	0
	New Generation Movement	952	0.3%	0
	Others	3,681	1.2%	0
Total		313,732	100%	10

Muthanna Governorate

Party		Total votes[68][65]	Percentage	Seats
	Forward (Saairun)	71,058	31%	2
	Conquest Alliance	46,363	20.2%	2
	Victory Coalition	35,712	15.6%	1
	National Wisdom Movement	35,686	15.6%	1
	State of Law Coalition	31,051	13.5%	1
	Movement of the Will	3,759	1.6%	0
	Babylon Movement	1,492	0.7%	0
	National Coalition	1,113	0.5%	0
	Construction and Reform	920	0.4%	0
	Others	2,156	0.9%	0
Total		229,310	100%	7

Najaf Governorate

Party		Total votes[69][65]	Percentage	Seats
	Forward (Saairun)	92,219	24.6%	4
	Conquest Alliance	83,070	22.1%	3
	Victory Coalition	71,971	19.2%	3
	National Wisdom Movement	38,163	10.2%	1
	State of Law Coalition	37,057	9.9%	1
	Movement of the Will	14,883	4%	0
	Others	37,779	10.1%	0
Total		375,142	100%	12

Nineveh Governorate

Party		Total votes[70]	Percentage	Seats
	Victory Coalition	168,112	17.9%	7
	Kurdistan Democratic Party	139,489	14.9%	6
	National Coalition	104,025	11.1%	4
	Nineveh Is Our Identity	83,102	8.9%	3
	Conquest Alliance	75,043	8%	3
	Arab Decision Alliance	67,117	7.2%	3
	National Party of the Masses	54,135	5.8%	2
	Democratic Approach	37,035	3.9%	1
	Patriotic Union of Kurdistan	32,789	3.5%	1
	Civilized Alliance	28,513	3%	1
	Solidarity (Tadamun)	14,936	1.6%	0
	Independent Qusay Abbas Shabak Reserved Seat	14,824	1.6%	1
	Yazidi Democratic Party Yazidi Reserved Seat	11,141	1.2%	1
	Babylon Movement Christian Reserved Seat	9,753	1%	1
	Others	98,640	10.5%	0
Total		938,654	100%	31(+3)

Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate

Party		Total votes[71]	Percentage	Seats
	Conquest Alliance	88,895	24.8%	3
	Forward (Saairun)	73,294	20.4%	3
	Victory Coalition	59,883	16.7%	2
	State of Law Coalition	42,878	12%	1
	National Wisdom Movement	42,139	11.8%	1
	Movement of the Will	24,771	6.9%	1
	Civil Democratic Alliance	6535	1.8%	0
	National Coalition	4861	1.4%	0
	Others	15,191	4.2%	0
Total		358,447	100%	11

Saladin Governorate

Party		Total votes[72]	Percentage	Seats
	National Fortress Coalition	77,624	19.2%	3
	Conquest Alliance	64,267	15.9%	2
	National Coalition	56,325	13.9%	2
	Victory Coalition	50,898	12.6%	2
	Arab Decision Alliance	38,755	9.6%	2
	Saladin Is Our Identity	31,994	7.9%	1
	Iraq's Earth	20,778	5.1%	0
	Forward (Saairun)	15,816	3.9%	0
	Others	47,562	11.8%	0
Total		404,019	100%	12

Sulaymaniyah Governorate

Party		Total votes[73]	Percentage	Seats
	Patriotic Union of Kurdistan	267,442	39.4%	8
	Movement for Change	156,973	23.1%	4
	New Generation Movement	64,389	9.5%	2
	Kurdistan Islamic Group	51,763	7.6%	1
	Kurdistan Democratic Party	48,820	7.2%	1
	Coalition for Democracy and Justice	46,967	6.9%	1
	Kurdistan Islamic Union	30,297	4.5%	1
	Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party	4,895	0.7%	0
	Communist Party of Kurdistan – Iraq	1,792	0.3%	0
	Babylonian Movement Christian Reserved Seat	1,148	0.2%	1
	Others	4,198	0.6%	0
Total		678,684	100%	18(+1)

Wasit Governorate

Party		Total votes[74]	Percentage	Seats
	Forward (Saairun)	101,402	25.7%	3
	Conquest Alliance	73,912	18.7%	2
	Victory Coalition	53,819	13.6%	2
	National Wisdom Movement	51,928	13.2%	2
	State of Law Coalition	44,537	11.3%	1
	Ability Coalition for Change	37,782	9.6%	1
	National Coalition	7,941	2%	0
	Independent Mazen Abdel Moneim Gomaa Reserved Feyli Kurdish Seat	5,078	1.3%	1
	Others	18,142	4.6%	0
Total		394,541	100%	11(+1)

Maps

Government formation

On 8 June, a formal agreement was signed by the leaders of the Alliance towards Reforms (Saairun) and the National Coalition (Wataniya) to become the largest bloc in the Council of Representatives. The bloc is calling for economic reform, consolidation of democracy, and political decentralization. A spokesman for Wataniya said that the agreement would be a prelude to other forces joining the alliance, and that serious talks were underway with the National Wisdom Movement (Hikma), the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the Fatah Alliance, and the Decision Alliance (Muttahidoon) as an alliance of these six electoral coalitions would constitute a majority that could form a government.[75]

Al-Sadr announced on 12 June that he had formed an alliance with Fatah, while maintaining an alliance with Al-Wataniya.[76] Prime Minister Abadi later met with Al Sadr on 23 June.[77] Al Sadr afterwards announced he had formed "a cross-sectarian, cross-ethnic alliance" with Abadi and that it would speed up the formation of a new government.[77] Abadi also announced that the new alliance between his Victory Alliance's and Al Sadr's Alliance towards Reforms "is not in contrast to any other alliances either of the two lists have previously entered into with other blocs, rather, it flows in the same direction and same principles."[77]

The final results of the election were announced on 9 August, starting the process to form the government.[55] Parliament convened on 3 September, but were unable to elect a speaker due to rivalries between two blocs who both claimed to be the largest coalition, entitled to nominate the Prime Minister. Al-Abadi presented an alliance with Saairun, Wataniya, Hikma and other smaller lists who between then held a majority of seats. However, Fatah also claimed to have a majority, based on an alliance with State of Law and with members of Abadi's coalition who had defected.[78]

Two weeks later parliament reconvened and elected a speaker in a secret ballot, with candidates from each of the rival blocs. Muhammad al-Halbusi, a Sunni Arab (as per the Iraqi tradition of muḥāṣaṣah) but backed by Fatah was elected.[79]

At the same time, violent protests occurred in Basra and other cities in the south over polluted water—which had hospitalised tens of thousands of people—and the lack of reliable electricity. Religious leaders called for a new Prime Minister who hadn't been in government before. Abadi announced on 13 September 2018 that he would respect this call and not run for a second term as prime minister.[80]

The vote for the President took place on 2 October. Previously, the president had always been a member of the second-largest Kurdish party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, under an agreement with the Kurdistan Democratic Party whereby the KDP would be president of Iraqi Kurdistan. However, the KDP fielded a separate candidate, Fuad Hussein, insisting that they had the right to the Presidency as the largest party. Both candidates went to a vote in the parliament, with the PUK's Barham Salih winning. He immediately nominated independent Shi'ite Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a former oil minister seen as acceptable to all parties and to both Iran and the United States, as Prime Minister-designate.[81]

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