Iraq’s Election Commission Sends Results to Court for Certification

Iraqiya Expresses Confidence in First Chance at Govt

Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission today submitted the final results of the March 7 election to the nation’s Supreme Court, raising the possibility that the new parliament could be seated very soon, after two and a half months of legal challenges.

Once the results are certified by the court, the parliament will be seated and will vote for a new president, who will charge the party with the largest plurality with attempting to form the next government.

Early indications are that the Kurdistan Alliance (KA) will be given the presidency once again, despite finishing a distant fourth place in the elections.

According to the Iraqiya bloc, they have been assured by the KA that they will be given the first opportunity to form the new government. There had been some question of this, though Iraqiya had 91 seats to State of Law’s 89, as the Iraqi courts have banned two of Iraqiya’s MPs from serving and another has been assassinated.

But Iraqiya’s road to a government is far from clear, as State of Law has already formed a partnership with the third place Iraqi National Alliance (INA), whose 70 seats put the two just 3 seats shy of forming a majority.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.