The Al-Fateh Alliance, the “political umbrella of the Popular Mobilization”, won only 16 seats during the parliamentary elections that were held on October 10, down from 48 seats it had obtained in the 2018 elections.
The talk of these groups about fraud has diminished, in light of the international praises of the Iraqi elections, such as the UN Security Council, the United Nations Mission and others, which led to greater legitimacy.
proof of existence
Observers of the Iraqi affairs believe that the current escalation by armed groups and the movement of their elements through protests and sit-ins, currently taking place in the governorates of: Baghdad, Basra, Dhi Qar, and others, comes with the aim of obtaining good shares during the formation of the next Iraqi government, or not completely bypassing it.
The writer and political analyst, Ali Al-Baydar, said that “these groups resorted to sit-ins and brandishing weapons, because of the defeats they suffered in the elections,” noting that “what they did represents a coup against the state and the government, because it strayed from the legal and legitimate methods of objection.”
Al-Baydar added in a statement to “Sky News Arabia” that “this move aims primarily to ensure the presence of these forces and their political representatives, within the parties that will form the government, because of their sense of the danger of expulsion.”
He pointed out, “The need not to pay attention to these groups, as they represent only themselves, and they have no real audience on the ground.”
These protests reflect the Al-Fateh Alliance’s concern about the Sadrist movement’s monopoly in power, as it won first place, with more than 70 electoral seats, which is what prompts it to prove its existence through popular protests.
The protesters are calling for the recounting and manual counting of the entire electoral process, which was rejected by the Electoral Commission, especially since all the results of matching conducted by the commission manually were in agreement with the electronic count.
These protests sparked widespread popular anger, due to the involvement of the Popular Mobilization Forces in them and directing them to participate in them, despite the fact that the Popular Mobilization Forces are a security force under the authority of the Council of Ministers.
Threat to the UN mission
Those groups directed threats to the United Nations mission, accusing it of interfering in the electoral affairs, which was rejected by the UN Security Council, through a statement issued by it regarding the Iraqi elections.
The demonstrations were not limited to supporters of armed militias from the general public, but members of those factions participated in them, as a video clip showed a quarrel between an officer and a demonstrator, over road closures, so the protester responded to the officer with “We are the resistance factions.”
The elections confused the accounts of some small and large blocs because of the surprises they included, as the Sadrist movement came in first place with more than 70 seats, while the “Progress Alliance” headed by Parliament Speaker, Muhammad al-Halbousi, came in second with 38 seats.
In turn, the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, expressed, on Saturday, his hope that the position of the Security Council on the Iraqi elections will contribute to the decline of the political parties objecting to the results on the pretext of fraud.
Al-Sadr said in a statement: “Draging the country into chaos and destabilizing civil peace due to the fraud claimant’s lack of conviction of the results, is a shameful matter that complicates the political scene and the security situation, but rather gives a negative perception of them, and this should not be increased and repeated.”
Al-Sadr warned against “pressing the Electoral Commission or interfering with the work of the judiciary and the Federal Court,” stressing that “conviction with the electronic results will harm Iraq and its people with security and stability.”
Earlier, Al-Sadr warned of “fighting and clashing” against the background of the announcement of the full results of the elections by the High Commission.
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