On Monday, Iraq’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad al-Halbousi confirmed that talks were underway between Shia, Sunni and Kurdish parliamentary groups to form a national unity government.
Without providing further details, al-Halbousi said the three blocs will meet at the headquarters of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for talks on the government formation.
Earlier during the day, in the southern city of Najaf, al-Sadr met with al-Halbousi and Nechirvan Barzani, the head of northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), for talks on the formation of the government.
Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s IRGC Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, visited Iraq last week for talks with Shia leaders. The talks came in an effort to bridge differences between al-Sadr’s Movement and the Shia Coordination Framework, the latter of which consists of Shia parliamentary groups that seek to form a government without al-Sadr’s support.
By obtaining 73 seats in the 329-member parliament, Al-Sadr’s Sairoon Alliance emerged the biggest winner in the October 10 elections, followed by al-Halbousi’s Taqaddum bloc with 37 seats.
