The political coalition led by prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr emerged as the front-runner as the initial results of Iraq's historic parliamentary election came out in 10 of the 18 provinces, the Iraqi electoral commission said Monday.
The al-Sa'iroon coalition won four provinces, including the capital of Baghdad, which has 71 parliamentary seats, the most among all the 18 Iraqi provinces, according to the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).
The other three provinces it has secured were Dhi Qar, Wasit and al-Muthanna. The coalition also came second in the provinces of Karbala, Basra, al-Qadisiyyah and Babil.
The al-Fath Coalition led by Hadi al-Ameri also won four provinces, namely Basra, Karbala, al-Qadisiyyah and Babil. However, it has garnered 233,289 votes in the capital, compared to al-Sa'iroon's 413,638 votes.
According to IHEC figures, the State of Law Coalition, headed by Nuri al-Maliki, came third in Baghdad province with 211,243, but failed to take the lead in any of the 10 provinces.
The al-Nasr Coalition led by incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi placed fifth in Baghdad province with 194,797 votes, after the al-Wataniyah (National) Coalition led by Ayad Allawi, which garnered 204,686 ballots.
The initial results do not include voters outside Iraq, and the results of the remaining eight Iraqi provinces will be released later on Monday, Riyadh al-Badran, an IHEC senior official, told the press.
Millions of Iraqis went to 8,959 polling centers across the country on Saturday to vote for their parliamentary representatives in the first general election after Iraq's historic victory over the Islamic State (IS) group last December.
Some 90 political entities and 7,000 candidates are vying for 329 seats in the parliament.
