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Further Reading

Saddam-Era Opposition Early Political Parties Election 2005 - Parliament Election 2009 - Local Election 2010 - Parliament Resources Iraq Elections 2010 The Official Coalition List Is Out Iraqi Leaders After Sadr-Badr Compromise in Tehran, the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) Is Declared By Reidar Visser - 24 August 2009 The Unity of Iraq Alliance: Another Second-Generation Coalition By Reidar Visser - 21 October 2009 Maliki Re-Launches the State of Law List: Beautiful But Is It Powerful Enough? By Reidar Visser - 1 October 2009 Where is Iraq headed? Dr. Phebe Marr - Testimony Senate Foreign Relations Committee January 10, 2007 Association of Muslim Clerics Assyrian Democratic Movement Assyrian National Congress Assyrian Socialist Party Bayt al-Nahrayn Democratic Party Constitutional Monarchy Movement Iraqi Communist Party Iraqi Islamic Party Iraqi National Accord Iraqi National Congress Islamic Al-Da'wah Party Kurdish Democratic Party Movement for Sacred National Defense Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) Turkoman People's Party Site on Iraqi political parties

Political Parties

Significant Iraqi Political Parties

Although Shia leader Ayatollah Sistani had opposed the formation of political organizations, he approved the formation of a Shia-dominated coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, to contest the parliamentary elections of January 2005. In the early post-Saddam Hussein years, the two major formal Shia parties were the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) and Islamic Dawa (known as Dawa). SCIRI maintains close ties in Iran, commands a militia force of 10,000, and seeks a strong political role for the Islamic clergy. Since its return from exile in Iran in 2003, SCIRI had projected a more pluralistic image in a successful effort to broaden its support. It has supported the U.S. presence in Iraq and the 2005 parliamentary elections. Dawa began in 1958 as an Islamic revolutionary party, existed in exile during the Hussein regime, and emerged as an advocate of Islamic reform and modernization of religious institutions.

In the parliamentary elections of January 2005, the United Iraqi Alliance gained 140 of the 275 seats contested, and Dawa leader Ibrahim al Jafari was named prime minister of the transitional government.