BAGHDAD — Supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr were already celebrating in the streets the night after the Oct. 10 elections while parties more closely linked to Iran made vague threats about what might happen if they were “cheated” out of votes. A week later, relatively minor protests had begun against alleged voter fraud and some threats of violence had begun to circulate.
Meanwhile, the Sunni community seems to have voted mostly en masse for a party led by Iraq’s youngest parliamentary speaker ever, Anbar native Mohammed al-Halbusi. He was named parliament speaker in September 2018, a few months after the previous elections in May of that year.
