Will Sadr lead Shiite political scene, exclude Iran's allies from Cabinet?
Iraq's Sadrist movement head Muqtada al-Sadr seeks to lead the Shiite political decision and establish himself as the sole representative of the Shiites in the next Cabinet.
Iraq's political parties are going through a tough negotiation process to form the next government. While this been happening each time after an election, this is the first time that the inter-Shiite division casts a shadow over the entire Iraqi political scene.
Inter-Shiite divisions and tension have climaxed to the point of pushing regional and local parties to assume the role of mediator in a bid to bring closer the views between the vanquishers and vanquished in the elections that took place on Oct. 10, 2021.
This division would reshape political alliances and the next Cabinet, which may be the first government in which there is no representation of Iran's allies that had always been present and controlled the Iraqi governments since 2006.
The Sadr-KDP-Sunni alignment includes 162 seats of the 165 majority required to form a government – 73 from the Sadrist alliance, 54 from the Sunni blocks including Muhammad Halbousi's Taqaddom and Khamis Khanjar Azm, and 35 from the KDP.
