| More about this round up from yesterday. |
Moqtada Tateral-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that it managed to form the biggest parliamentary bloc, a move which will give it the power to make up the new government.
"The Alliance of Reform and Building, which consists of Sadr’s Sairoon, Abadi’s Victory and 16 other political groups, has been registered as the biggest bloc in the parliament," Baghdad Today quoted Jassem al-Helfy, a big shot in the Sairoon alliance, as saying on Monday.
According to al-Helfy, "the parliament will officially name the biggest parliamentary bloc later today after all alliances reveal names of their affiliated MPs".
The Sadr-Abadi alliance also includes the blocs of Vice President Ayad Allawi and Shiite Moslem holy man Ammar al-Hakim, as well as several Sunni Moslem politicians and ones representing Turkmen, Yazidi, Mandaean and Christian minorities.
It does not include Kurdish groups.
The Iraqi parliament held its first session early Monday in its new formation after the final results were endorsed by the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court two weeks ago.