BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – Vote counting was under way in Iraq on Monday, a day after the parliamentary election.
The parliamentary elections were brought forward by several months in response to protests calling for reforms.
Muqtada al-Sadr’s political movement has reportedly made strong gains in the elections, according to results released on Monday afternoon by the country’s electoral commission.
The Iraqi High Electoral Commission (IHEC) began announcing the results for 10 provinces across Iraq, despite previously stating that full results would be available within 24 hours. They said the rest of the results would be released on Tuesday.
Apart from the gains made by Sadr’s Sairoun coalition, the State of Law coalition - led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - also made strong gains in a number of provinces.
Independents also gained seats in a number of areas.
A new single-member constituency system for electing Iraq’s 329 lawmakers was supposed to boost independents versus the traditional blocs largely centered on religious, ethnic and clan affiliations.
Senior Daesh Terrorist Arrested

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces have arrested a senior Daesh terrorist, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi announced on Monday.
Sami Jasim, who was in charge of the terrorist group’s finances and a deputy of slain ringleader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was arrested outside of the country, Al-Kadhimi wrote on social media.
“While our [Iraqi security forces] heroes focused on securing the elections, their [Iraqi national intelligence services] colleagues were conducting a complex external operation to capture Sami Jasim,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday, a day after the country held the parliamentary election.
He did not provide further details of the operation.
Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, described Jasim’s arrest as a breakthrough for Baghdad.
“The government considers this a great achievement as he was responsible for a lot of operations in Iraq and Syria,” Abdelwahed said.
Jasim was detained in an identified foreign country and transported to Iraq a few days ago, The Associated Press news agency reported, citing Iraqi intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.