Linda Robinson
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the election produced a number o parliamentary blocs that must bar-
gain with one another to get anything done. The current government
relies on consensus and is led by two politicians with a history o work-
ing with the United States: Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi and
President Barham Salih. When the government took oce in October
2018, it marked Iraq’s fourth successive peaceful transfer o power.
The 2018 elections were a demonstration o Iraqis’ priorities. The
alliance that won the most votes, the Sairoon (Marching Toward Re-
form) coalition, was led by followers o
the populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-
Sadr, the erstwhile leader o a militia
that fought U.S. troops from 2004 to- Although Sadr studied and once
sought refuge in Iran, he is also a vocal
nationalist who wants to ensure Iraq’s
independence from both Washington and Tehran. Many Iraqis con-
sider today’s creeping Iranian inÇuence to be an aront to their coun-
try’s sovereignty, and during the campaign, Sadr persuasively positioned
his bloc as the independent alternative to the one led by former Prime
Minister Haider al-Abadi (which was seen as too pro-American) and
the one led by Hadi al-Ameri (which was seen as too close to Iran).
Even more important than Sadr’s emphasis on independence was his
decision to champion bread-and-butter economic and governance issues.
Sadr has long enjoyed support among poor Shiites thanks to his years
spent demanding improved public services and a crackdown on Iraq’s
egregious corruption. Although many Iraqis bene¿t from entrenched
party patronage—some 60 percent o employed Iraqis are on the public
payroll—they are fed up with politicians siphoning millions o dollars
from the public coers. Recognizing this frustration, Sadr called for the
removal o corrupt ocials and an upgrading o public services, espe-
cially electricity. After the election, he insisted on the appointment o
technically competent cabinet ministers instead o politicians as a condi-
tion o his support for the government, which has largely occurred.
The demand for improved governance has moved to the fore now
that Iraq has ¿nally emerged from its vicious, ¿ve-year battle against
. In 2014, the terrorist group swept across northern and western
Iraq, capturing roughly one-third o the country’s territory, including
Mosul, its second-largest city. Iraq’s military and police forces, cor-
roded by years o political interference and corruption, all but disin-
Iraq’s future looks brighter
today than it has at any
point in the past decade.