Basra Becomes Battleground For Iraqi Politics

The most important conclusion to be made is that no bloc will be able to form provincial governments without broad alliances. While unremitting efforts were made this month to form such alliances, stiff competition in oil-rich Basra prevented any such governing coalition from quickly taking place in the city.

In Basra, Maliki’s seats dropped from 22 seats in 2009 to 16 seats in 2013, while Hakim won six seats and Sadr three. Ten other seats were distributed to small political blocs, new movements and religious minorities in Basra, which have a high potential for conflicts.

The adoption of the “Saint Lego” method had an impact on the new distribution of seats, which is characterized by a diversity allowing for the emergence of new voices and political forces.

Yet, the conflict today seems limited to the two forces trying to win the governor’s post and executive positions in Basra; those forces are the State of Law coalition led by Maliki and the Basra First coalition formed recently by most other political forces, at the forefront of which are Sadr and Hakim’s coalitions.

The State of Law coalition and the Basra First coalition each claims that it is capable of achieving a large majority in order to choose the governor and executive officials.

The head of the Basra First coalition, Jawad al-Bazoni, said he believes his coalition may obtain 25 seats because a number of candidates from the State of Law coalition decided to join his coalition; Anwar Medallal, speaking on behalf of Maliki’s coalition, declared that her coalition has 18 seats, enough for a bare majority of the 35 seats at stake.

While all this may be settled following the provincial council meeting at end of this month, the scale of the competition over who will control the provincial government is raising two major challenges for Basra: