With Iraq’s high court having finalized the election, Moqtada al-Sadr, the head of the largest party, met with the leaders of several Shi’ite militias aligned with the Fatah Party.
Fatah did very poorly in the vote, and was legally challenging it until the court threw their complaint out Monday. Officials say the meeting discussed possible involvement in forming the next government.
Sadr’s party has some 70 seats, and is far from a majority government yet. Fatah did so poorly, it’s hard to see what their seats will do for a coalition-building effort.
That makes it strange for Sadr to start with Fatah, when he’s going to need more big parties to make a run at governing.
It was probably important to appease them first to ensure stability & security before talking to the other parties to get the constitutionally required majority of parliamentary seats.
A great and preschent comment
More like “any enemy of the u.s. . . . “. As does the rest of Iraq – Sadr wants the green zone gone.
Sadr started in politics as a Shiite militia. He has good claims and a strong personal appeal to leadership of all Shiite militia groups. Meeting with other Shiite militia groups is a good way to bring his own power base together, before facing larger groups he needs to win over. He can’t want his own base vulnerable to splitting and use against him.