Abdul Mahdi Government

Other significant parties were the Fatah Alliance with 47 – formed by leading members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (Al-Hashd al-Sha'abi), who had taken a leading role in the fight to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, who took control of much of Iraq in 2014 – and the Victory Alliance (42) of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

[3] The final results were announced on August 9 – nearly three months after the vote – starting the constitutional process to form a new government.

[4] Parliament convened on 3 September, but were unable to elect a speaker due to rivalries between two blocs who both claimed to be the largest coalition, entitled to nominate the Prime Minister.

However, Fatah also claimed to have a majority, based on an alliance with State of Law and with members of Abadi's coalition who had defected.

[6] At the same time, violent protests occurred in Basra and other cities in the south over polluted water – which had hospitalised tens of thousands of people – and the lack of reliable electricity.

He immediately nominated independent Shi'ite Adel Abdul Mahdi, a former oil minister seen as acceptable to all parties and to both Iran and the United States, as Prime Minister-designate.

[8] Abdul Mahdi invited people to apply to a new online website if they wanted to be a minister, in a bid to bring in new faces and appoint a cabinet of technocrats.