Iraqi parliament elects new speaker

Mohammed Al-Halbousi, previous governor of Anbar and 37 years old, has just been elected by the Iraqi parliament as the new speaker.

He was firstly chosen by the Sunni Arab coalition as their ideal candidate, but during the vote in parliament he was staunchly backed by the pro-Iranian factions within parliament.

https://www.france24.com/en/20180915-iraq-parliament-elects-pro-iran-list-candidate-speaker-0

The incumbent Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has been weakened considerably following the protests in Basra against corruption, Iran and the Islamic Dawa party. Days later, the US-backed Prime Minister conceded that he is no longer seeking a second term. As a result, it seems the Saeroon coalition has abandoned Abadi for the Fatah coalition, which is closely allied to Iran. The Saeroon coalition scored the largest number of votes in the election this year, followed by Fatah and Abadi's Nasr coalition.

For the first time since 2006, the Islamic Dawa party may be out of power in Iraq. From 2006 until 2014 the notorious Nour Al-Maliki ruled Iraq, and it was his policies which led to the rise of ISIS. From 2014 until now, Haider Al-Abadi has been Prime Minister of Iraq. Initially, Saeroon was allied with Abadi, while Fatah was allied with Nouri Al-Maliki. To establish a coalition, the compromise between Saeroon and Fatah may have been the exclusion of both Abadi and Maliki from the next government.

However, the Fatah coalition is even more pro-Iran than Nouri al-Maliki was. Hadi Al-Ameri, leader of the Fatah coalition and the Badr Brigade, fought on Iran's side during the Iran-Iraq war. Should Saeroon side with Fatah, it will inevitably be stained by Iranian intervention in Iraq, meaning that, come next election, Saeroon will be forced to divorce from Fatah or face the wrath of further Iraqi protests.