Iraq Shia parties seek alliance with Kurds

Two major Shia parties in the Iraqi parliament are set to visit Iraqi Kurdistan next week in order to form an alliance and coalition with the prominent Kurdish parties following the recounting of ballot papers.

The delegations that will visit the region consists of the State of Law party run by the current Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and the Sairoon party run by the cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr. Both delegations are attempting to negotiate with the major Kurdish parties, namely the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Read: Sunni figures form new political alliance in Iraq

It is not yet clear which party the Kurdish factions will choose to form a coalition with, but they have met with others such as the Sunni and Turkmen parties for the same purpose, proving that their options are broad.

Saadi Ahmed Pira, the spokesperson for PUK, told the Kurdish news channel Kurdistan 24 that “we are waiting to see who is most in line with the Kurds’ wishes.”

The efforts to form an alliance come as a result of the Iraqi elections which were held in May. The ballots were marred by allegations of inaccurate counting and other violations.

A manual recount of the votes begun in early July and was concluded earlier in August, with Muqtada Al-Sadr and his Sairoon party retaining its position as the party that gained the majority of votes.

Read: Iraqi Supreme Court ratifies May election results

With the recount not having any significant effect on the results, factions in the Iraqi parliament are still seeking new alliances with other political groups in order to attain the minimum 165 seats out of a total of 329 that are required to win a majority.

All of the political blocs are waiting for the Iraqi electoral commission to finish considering all of the appeals against the election recount before beginning talks to form a new government.