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Iraq election: Shia rivals of PM Abadi 'make gains' Iraq election: Prime minister trails rivals
(about 9 hours later)
Shia rivals of Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi have made big gains in Saturday's parliamentary elections, partial results suggest. The bloc led by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is trailing in third place in Iraq's parliamentary elections, according to partial results.
With most votes counted, a bloc headed by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and another led by a militia leader are ahead, voting officials are quoted as saying. With more than half of votes counted, a nationalist alliance between Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr and mostly secular groups is in the lead.
They suggest Mr Abadi's governing alliance is running third. It is followed by a bloc linked to Iranian-backed Shia paramilitaries who fought the Islamic State (IS) group.
The election was the first since the government declared victory over so-called Islamic State (IS) last year. The elections are the first since Iraq declared victory over IS in December.
The full official results are due to be announced later on Monday. The final results are due to be announced later on Monday, triggering what are expected to be lengthy negotiations to form a new coalition government.
The complex electoral system in Iraq's 18 provinces suggests that the final make-up of the 329-member parliament is still far from decided. The US has called for an "inclusive government, responsive to the needs of all Iraqis".
Turnout in the election was 44.5% - much lower than in previous elections. Some 5,000 American troops are in Iraq supporting local forces in the battle against IS, a Sunni Muslim jihadist group.
Iraqis voted for rival lists of candidates. Most are predominantly Shia or Sunni, though the Kurds have their own lists. What exactly do the results show?
The early results reported late on Sunday suggests that Mr Sadr's bloc was ahead. His supporters celebrated in Baghdad. On Sunday night, officials from Iraq's election commission announced the almost full returns from 10 of Iraq's 19 provinces, including Baghdad and Basra.
Mr Sadr came to prominence after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, as the leader of a group of young men in a largely poor area of Baghdad. According to these early results:
According to the reports, the group led by veteran militia leader Hadi al-Amiri, was in second place. If Mr Sadr and his allies maintain their position, it will represent a stunning comeback for the cleric, the BBC's Martin Patience reports from Baghdad.
The Shia-led government of Mr Abadi has won praise for the fight against IS militants, and security has vastly improved across the country. In contrast, our correspondent adds, the early results are a setback for Mr Abadi, who had hoped to capitalise on the defeat of IS to bolster his own chances.
But despite improved security, Iraq is still struggling to rebuild itself after four years of war against IS, the BBC's Martin Patience in Baghdad says. Turnout in the election was 44.5% - much lower than in previous polls.
Many Iraqis are disillusioned by widespread government corruption and a weak economy, our correspondent adds. How important is Moqtada Sadr?
The vote came just days after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. Son of an assassinated Shia cleric, he rose to prominence after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Some Iraqis fear their country could once again become a casualty in any struggle between America and Iran, our correspondent adds. His fearsome Mehdi Army militia led two uprisings against US forces, whose withdrawal he consistently demanded, and was blamed for the killing of thousands of Sunni Muslims in the sectarian violence that plagued Iraq in 2006 and 2007.
Iraq elections: Could Iran be the real winner? Mr Sadr fled to Iran before the Iraqi government launched a crackdown on the Mehdi Army and remained in self-imposed exile until 2011, after playing a key role in the reappointment of then Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
In recent years, Mr Sadr has distanced himself from Iran and reinvented himself as an Iraqi nationalist and anti-corruption campaigner.
In 2016, his supporters stormed the parliament building in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone when the main political factions resisted their demands that Mr Abadi tackle corruption and replace the ministers in his cabinet with technocrats.
For this year's elections, Mr Sadr's party and its allies campaigned on a platform of fighting corruption and investing in public services.
After the announcement of the partial election results, supporters took to the streets of Baghdad's Sadr City district - named after his late father - to celebrate. One of them said the outcome signalled the start of a "new chapter for the Iraqi people".
Mr Sadr cannot be appointed prime minister as he did not stand in the election but his apparent victory could make him the kingmaker in the coalition negotiations.
What will the next government inherit?
Whoever is named prime minister will have to oversee the reconstruction of Iraq following the battle against IS, which seized control of large parts of the country in 2014.
International donors pledged $30bn (£22bn) at a conference in February but Iraqi officials have estimated that as much as $100bn is required. More than 20,000 homes and businesses were destroyed in the second city of Mosul alone.
More than two million Iraqis are still displaced across the country and IS militants continue to mount deadly attacks despite having lost control of the territory they once held.