Sadrists claim largest bloc after record-low Iraq voter turnout

The political movement of Iraq's influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr on Oct. 11 said it had retained the biggest share of seats in the country's parliament, after elections with a record low voter turnout.

A Sadrist official who asked not to be named told AFP that the movement had won around 73 of the parliament's 329 seats in Oct. 10's election.

"The people should celebrate this victory of the biggest bloc... without causing any inconvenience," Sadr, a former militia leader who opposes all foreign influence in Iraq, said in a televised address.

Sadrists held 54 seats, also the largest bloc, in the former parliament, and were considered the favorites  in the election which occurred against widespread disillusionment about a political elite seen as inept and corrupt.

An electoral commission official confirmed that preliminary results from Oct. 10's poll showed the Sadrists "in the lead".

Although experts had expected the large blocs to preserve their dominance in the fragmented parliament, the lack of a clear majority will force them to negotiate alliances.

The election was moved forward from 2022 as a concession to an anti-government protest movement that has demanded deep reforms in the oil-rich yet poverty-stricken country.

In the end, voter participation hit a new low in Iraq's fifth election since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein with the promise of bringing freedom and democracy.

Preliminary turnout was just 41 percent, the electoral commission said - below the modest 44.5 percent recorded in 2018.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hailed the "largely peaceful conduct" of the vote and urged "all stakeholders to show patience" as the electoral commission...