2018 Iraqi parliamentary election

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]

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]

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]

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]

Seats are allocated to governorates as follows:

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:[21][22]

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.[45] This was later on proven to be false; due to a family dispute, the candidate was killed by his son.[46]

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.[47]

One Iraqi border guard was killed by a bomb in the outskirts of Khanaqin in Diyala on 13 May.[48]

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.[49][50] It is still unclear whether the attacks were a response to the parliamentary gains in the election made by Sadr's coalition.[51]

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.[52]

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.[53] The final results were released on 9 August, with only minor changes affecting five candidates and two parties.[54]

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.[55]

Maps

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.[74]

Al-Sadr announced on 12 June that he had formed an alliance with Fatah, while maintaining an alliance with Al-Wataniya.[75] Prime Minister Abadi later met with Al Sadr on 23 June.[76] 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.[76] 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."[76]

The final results of the election were announced on 9 August, starting the process to form the government.[54] 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.[77]

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.[78]

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.[79]

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.[80]