Al-Sudani’s Coalition Takes Early Lead as Iraq Counts Votes
Iraq’s election commission said Wednesday that Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development Coalition leads preliminary parliamentary results nationwide, after ballots were counted across most provinces. The early tally shows who is out front, where they won, and what comes next: coalition bargaining in Baghdad to assemble a working majority and choose a cabinet.
Al-Sudani’s slate placed first in eight provinces—Baghdad, Qadisiyah, Najaf, Karbala, Muthanna, Maysan, Dhi Qar, and Babil. In a late-night address, the prime minister urged rivals to accept the count and keep talks open: “respect the will of the voters,” he said, adding that the “next phase aims to formulate a new government capable of representing its programs,” and that his coalition is “open to all parties without exception.” Former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition finished among the top performers across ten provinces without topping any. On the Sunni side, Taqaddum (Progress) leader Mohammed al-Halbousi won Anbar and Salahuddin and placed second in Baghdad, Nineveh, Kirkuk, and Diyala.
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The Kurdish map remains split. Masoud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party dominated Erbil and Duhok and led in mixed Nineveh, while the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan prevailed in Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk. Turnout, according to the commission, was 56.11%, with 12,009,453 ballots cast from 21,404,291 registered voters—a figure in line with Iraq’s recent pattern of mid-range participation.
What follows is the familiar Iraqi process: horse-trading among Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish blocs to elect a speaker, confirm a president, and nominate a prime minister who can pass a cabinet. Results are provisional, appeals are expected, and coalition math—not the raw vote—will decide whether al-Sudani converts his lead into a second governing term.
