National politics has been in paralysis since the May 12 ballot, but Saturday’s selections are expected to solidify new parliamentary alliances.

The pro-Iran bloc led by Hadi al-Ameri’s Conquest Alliance — a coalition of anti-jihadist veterans close to Tehran — consolidated its position as its candidate, Mohammed al-Halbusi, was elected speaker.

And Hassan Karim, put forward by populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, took the post of first deputy speaker.

Sadr’s list won the largest share of seats in the election, and is also part of the pro-Iran parliamentary alliance.

Iranian envoy “Qassem Soleimani has successfully re-unified Shiite forces and secured posts for Sunnis that have followed them”, said Iraqi political commentator Hisham al-Hashemi.

– ‘2-0 to Iran’ –

For the first time since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein, the Shiites appeared divided in the May polls.

Iraq has a proportional system designed to prevent a slide back into dictatorship following the 2003 ouster of Saddam.

The bloc with the most members appoints the prime minister and presides over the formation of the next government.

US envoy Brett McGurk has “failed to divide the Shiites, failed to keep promises of posts for Sunnis who rallied to the US and was unable to scare Sunnis who chose the Iranian camp”, Hashemi said.

“Iran has (therefore) already won two points, while the US has lost three”.

The new speaker was governor of Sunni-majority Anbar province, a key battleground in the war against the Islamic State jihadist group, before his election to parliament on a local list in May.

Born in 1981, he will be the youngest speaker in Iraq’s history.

During the vote, Halbusi pleaded for “real reforms”, after demonstrations last week in the southern oil-rich city of Basra turned deadly as protesters demanded improved public services and a crackdown against corruption.

In Iraq, the speaker of parliament is always Sunni Arab while the prime minister is picked from the country’s Shiite majority and the president is a Kurd.

Parliamentary coalitions — which bring together lists of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds to form the largest group — must agree on the selection of the three positions.

Halbusi ran against three other candidates, including Vice President Osama al-Nujaifi and former Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi.

Obeidi was backed by the list of outgoing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Halbusi won 169 out of 298 votes, while Obeidi took 89, in Saturday’s vote.

– Abadi throws in the towel –

Abadi said Thursday he would not seek a second term as his political support crumbled over the violence in Basra.

In a crucial setback, Sadr dropped his support for the prime minister last Saturday, as anger over the sitation in the southern city grew.

Basra has been at the epicentre of protests that broke out in in July, before spreading to other parts of the country.

The protests in Basra intensified over a growing health crisis, after more than 30,000 people were hospitalised by a polluted water supply.

Protesters hit the streets for five days, clashing with security forces and torching the provincial headquarters, the Iranian consulate and the offices of armed groups.

Twelve demonstrators were killed in the clashes, with rights groups accusing security forces of using excessive force.

Featured Photo: IRAQI PARLIAMENT/AFP / – A handout video grab taken from live footage released by the Iraqi Parliament on September 15, 2018 of newly-elected parliamentary speaker Mohammed Al-Halbusi.

The two leading groups in parliament called on Abadi to step down, after lawmakers held an emergency meeting on the public anger boiling over in the southern city of Basra.

AFP / Haidar MOHAMMED ALI.Iraqi special forces patrol in a street in Basra on September 8, 2018, after Iraq’s Joint Operations Command vowed a “severe” response with “exceptional security measures”, including a ban on protests and group travel

“We demand the government apologise to the people and resign immediately,” said Hassan al-Aqouli, spokesman for the list of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr that won the most seats in the election.

The announcement dealt a severe blow to Abadi’s hopes of holding onto his post through a bloc — described as the biggest in parliament — unveiled just days earlier with Sadr and more than a dozen other groups.

Ahmed al-Assadi, spokesman for the second-largest list in parliament, the Conquest Alliance, condemned “the government’s failure to resolve the crisis in Basra”, where 12 protesters were killed this week in clashes with security forces.

The Conquest Alliance of pro-Iranian former paramilitary fighters was “on the same wavelength” as Sadr’s Marching Towards Reform list and they would work together to form a new government, Assadi said.

AFP / AFP. Iraq.

Abadi, whose grouping came third in the May polls, defended his record in parliament, describing the unrest as “political sabotage” and saying the crisis over public services was being exploited for political ends.

His government has announced the allocation of an unspecified amount of extra funds for Basra, although demonstrators say that billions of dollars in emergency funding pledged in July has failed to materialise.

– Anger over shortages –

Calm appeared to have returned to the streets of Basra late Saturday.

Friday evening’s curfew held for the first time as soldiers and police manned checkpoints and patrolled the city.

And no incidents were reported in the course of Saturday evening, leading authorities to lift the curfew.

Basra had been rocked by protests since Tuesday, with demonstrators setting ablaze government buildings, the Iranian consulate and the offices of pro-Tehran militias and political parties.

The anger flared after the hospitalisation of 30,000 people who had drunk polluted water, in an oil-rich region where residents have for weeks complained of water and electricity shortages, corruption among officials and unemployment.

Hours before parliament met, four rockets fired by unidentified assailants struck inside the perimeter of Basra airport, security sources said.

Staff at the airport, which is located near the US consulate in Basra, said flights were not affected.

The attack came after a day of rage in the southern city where hundreds of protesters stormed the fortified Iranian consulate, causing no casualties but sparking condemnation.

AFP / Haidar MOHAMMED ALI. This picture taken on September 7, 2018 shows the burning Iranian consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Basra which was torched by protesters during demonstrations over poor public services.

Abadi said he had instructed security forces to “act decisively against the acts of vandalism that accompanied the demonstrations”.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, which includes the army and police, vowed a “severe” response with “exceptional security measures”, including a ban on protests and group travel.

– ‘Neglect, corruption’ –

A spokesman for the consulate said that all diplomats and staff had been evacuated from the building before the protesters attacked, and that nobody was hurt.

The wave of protests first broke out in Basra in July before spreading to other parts of the country, with demonstrators condemning corruption among Iraqi officials and demanding jobs.

Since then a total of at least 27 people have been killed.

“We’re thirsty, we’re hungry, we are sick and abandoned,” protester Ali Hussein told AFP on Friday in Basra after another night of violence.

Iraq has been struggling to rebuild its infrastructure and economy after decades of bloody conflicts, including an eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s, the US-led invasion of 2003 and the battle against the Islamic State group.

In August, the oil ministry announced that crude exports for August had hit their highest monthly figure this year, with nearly 112 million barrels of oil bringing $7.7 billion to state coffers.

Iraq, however, suffers from persistent corruption and many Iraqis complain that the oil wealth is unfairly distributed.

“We do not want Basra to be seen as a huge barrel of oil” to be exploited, said Walid al-Ansari, who heads an association that looks after the families of people killed in the protests.

“It’s been 15 years since they did anything for the people,” Ansari added.

Saturday’s talks among Iraqi politicians in Baghdad drew scorn in the southern city.

“These meetings will never appease Basra residents”, said Montazer al-Karkochi, coordinator of the Rally for Basra Youth.

“Basra has received no money (and) no projects have been launched” since the government promised in July to spend billions of dollars on improving services, he added.

Featured Photo: AFP / Haidar HAMDANI. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (R) is trying to hold on to his post by forming an alliance with popular Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, a former militia chief who demands greater political independence for Iraq from both Iran and the United States.