SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Shia parties that held a meeting on Sunday except for the Sadrist Movement reaffirmed their refusal of the initial results in Iraq’s parliamentary election.
Head of State of Law Nouri al-Maliki said the “Coordination Framework” that includes the Shia groups that reject the initial results of the elections would hold a meeting to discuss ways to end the crisis emerged due to the results.
The group formed by Maliki includes the majority of the Shia forces, except for the Sadrist Movement led by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Iraqi media reported that leaders of the Shia parties formed the “coordination framework” as well as Azm bloc led by Khamis Khanjar attended the meeting held at Maliki’s house in Baghdad.
They reiterated their “objection” to the initial results of the elections and repeated their calls for manual recounting, Iraqi media cited sources as saying.
Meanwhile, al-Nasr coalition led by former prime minister Haider al-Abadi said the meeting’s goal was to find a “national dialogue to study ways to end the crisis”, according to national Iraqi news agency (NINA).
“It was not to establish a political alliance or to form the largest bloc or to exclude any political party,” it said in a statement.
On October 16, several Shia parties toughened their tone, accusing the electoral commission of not correcting “major violations” in the vote counting, and blaming it for “the failure of the electoral process”, warning of negative repercussions on democracy.
The big winner in the election, with more than 70 spots in the 329-seat parliament, was Sadrist movement of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Al-Fateh Alliance, the political arm of the multi-party Hashid al-Shaabi, won around 15 seats in the elections, according to preliminary results. In the last parliament it had 48, which made it the second largest bloc.
In the election’s biggest surprise, Maliki, an ally of Hashid and a figure close to Iran, won more than 30 seats in the parliament.
