Country · IQ
Iraq
العراق עיראק6 parties on file · 4 currently in government
Timeline · 23 events
Region timeline →-
Iraqi parliamentary election scheduled for November 2025
Iraq's next parliamentary election is scheduled for 2025-11-11. The Sadrist Movement (Sairoon) has not announced whether it will end its 2022 political withdrawal and contest seats.
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Iraq prepares for late-2025 elections under Sudani
Iraq's parliamentary elections scheduled for November 2025 set the stage for either a renewal of Sudani's Coordination Framework government or a return of Sadrist influence after Muqtada al-Sadr's 2022 withdrawal. The Council of Representatives passed an electoral law revision in spring 2025 modifying district boundaries; opposition parties accused the changes of favoring Coordination Framework members.
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Federal court ousts Halbousi as parliament speaker
On 14 November 2023 Iraq's Federal Supreme Court abruptly terminated Mohammed al-Halbousi's membership in parliament — and thus his speakership — over a forgery allegation brought by a rival Sunni MP, a final and unappealable ruling that removed the country's top Sunni official and sparked uproar in Sunni provinces. He was later acquitted of the forgery charge in 2025 but could not reclaim the post.
Show 20 earlier events (1968–2022)
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Iraq: Sudani forms government after the longest deadlock in Iraqi history
Iraq spent over a year without a sitting government after the October 2021 elections — through Sadrist withdrawal from parliament, mass resignations of Sadrist MPs, deadly Green Zone clashes in August 2022, and a constitutional impasse over who could form a cabinet. Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, a Coordination Framework nominee, finally took office, ending the deadlock but consolidating power in the Iran-aligned bloc Muqtada al-Sadr had walked out to oppose.
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Parliament elects Abdul Latif Rashid president of Iraq
On 13 October 2022 Iraq's parliament elected the veteran Kurdish engineer Abdul Latif Rashid president with more than 162 votes, defeating incumbent Barham Salih — breaking the year-long post-election deadlock. Rashid (backed by the KDP) immediately named Mohammed Shia al-Sudani prime minister-designate, clearing the way for a new government even as rockets fell on Baghdad.
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Sadr orders all 73 of his MPs to resign from parliament
After eight months of deadlock in which he could not form a government, on 12–13 June 2022 Muqtada al-Sadr ordered all 73 Sadrist MPs to resign en masse from parliament. The seats passed to runners-up, mostly from the rival Coordination Framework, which then formed the Sudani government. The walkout — followed by deadly clashes in the Green Zone in August 2022 — was a dramatic instance of withdrawing from institutions rather than governing through them.
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Sadrist bloc wins 73 seats — the single largest — in the 2021 election
In the 10 October 2021 early election (called after the 2019 Tishreen protests), the Sadrist movement won 73 of 329 seats, its best-ever result and the largest single bloc. Sadr sought to form a majority "national" government with Sunni and Kurdish partners, breaking the post-2003 consensus model, but was blocked by the rival pro-Iran Coordination Framework through the courts and a quorum requirement.
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Tishreen protest movement begins
Cross-sectarian protests across Baghdad and the Shia south demanding the resignation of the post-2003 political class. PM Adel Abdul Mahdi resigns by December; protests continue through 2020 with hundreds killed in security-force violence.
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Barzani family consolidates KRG: Nechirvan president, Masrour PM
After Masoud Barzani's post-referendum resignation, the KDP installed his nephew Nechirvan Barzani as President of the Kurdistan Region (taking office June 2019) and his son Masrour Barzani as prime minister (sworn in July 2019), cementing the family's grip on both top offices. The arrangement steered the KRG through chronic budget and oil-export disputes with Baghdad.
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Halbousi becomes Iraq's leading Sunni as parliament speaker
In September 2018 Mohammed al-Halbousi, a former Anbar governor, was elected Speaker of Iraq's Council of Representatives, becoming at 37 the youngest holder of the post and the foremost Sunni officeholder in the post-2003 confessional order. His Taqaddum (Progress) party went on to win 37 seats in the 2021 election, the largest Sunni bloc.
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Sadr's Sairoon alliance wins the most seats in Iraq's 2018 election
In the 12 May 2018 parliamentary election, Muqtada al-Sadr's cross-ideological Sairoon ("On the Move") alliance — pairing the Sadrist movement with the Iraqi Communist Party and secular activists on an anti-corruption, anti-Iran, Iraqi-nationalist platform — finished first with 54 of 329 seats. Sadr, who did not run himself, became the chief kingmaker in forming the Adel Abdul-Mahdi government.
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Al-Hikma wins 19 seats in its first election and enters government
Contesting the 12 May 2018 parliamentary election as a new party, al-Hikma won 19 seats while its former parent ISCI collapsed to three. Al-Hikma joined the Islah (Reform) alliance and the government of Adel Abdul-Mahdi, giving Ammar al-Hakim a place among the kingmakers of post-2018 Shia politics before the movement moved toward opposition in 2019–2020.
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KRG independence referendum backfires, costing Kurdistan Kirkuk
On 25 September 2017 the Kurdistan Regional Government held an independence referendum in which over 93% voted to secede. Within the ruling KDP, security chief Masrour Barzani backed the vote while then-PM Nechirvan Barzani and the politburo were wary. Baghdad responded with a military push that retook Kirkuk and ~40% of KRG-held territory, and President Masoud Barzani resigned — a major miscalculation that set back Kurdish self-rule.
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Kurdish independence referendum
Iraqi Kurdistan votes 92.7% in favour of independence. Baghdad rejects the result; within weeks, federal forces retake Kirkuk and most disputed territories, ending KRG's post-2003 territorial expansion.
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Ammar al-Hakim leaves ISCI to found the National Wisdom Movement (al-Hikma)
In July 2017 Ammar al-Hakim announced he was leaving the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), which he had led since 2009, to found a new "national" movement, the National Wisdom Movement (Tayyar al-Hikma al-Watani). All but five of the 29 MPs of ISCI's Citizen Alliance followed him, leaving ISCI with a rump; al-Hikma branded itself as civic, Iraqi-nationalist and distanced from the pro-Iran "old guard."
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Mosul liberated from ISIS
Iraqi forces backed by the US-led coalition retook Mosul on 2017-07-10 after a nine-month battle, ending three years of ISIS control over Iraq's second-largest city. The defeat marked the effective end of the ISIS caliphate's territorial control.
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Mosul falls to ISIS
Iraqi army collapses in Mosul; ISIS captures Iraq's second-largest city in two days, looting central bank cash and US-supplied military equipment. Ten days later, al-Baghdadi declares the caliphate from al-Nuri Mosque.
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Iraqi 2010 election: Allawi wins, Maliki forms government
The 2010 Iraqi parliamentary election ended with Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya bloc narrowly winning the most seats. However, Maliki's State of Law Coalition outmaneuvered Allawi over 9 months to form the government — a moment widely seen as setting Iraq on the sectarian path that enabled ISIS's 2014 rise.
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Saddam executed after the Dujail trial
Captured by US forces in December 2003, Saddam Hussein was tried by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the 1982 Dujail massacre of 148 Shia villagers and executed by hanging on 30 December 2006. The rushed, sectarian-tinged execution — filmed and leaked — closed the Ba'athist era but deepened Sunni–Shia grievances in the new Iraq.
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Ba'ath Party banned by CPA Order 1 (de-Ba'athification)
On 16 May 2003 the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority under Paul Bremer issued Order Number 1, banning the Ba'ath Party in all forms and purging its senior members from public employment. Combined with Order 2 dissolving the army a week later, de-Ba'athification removed Iraq's entire administrative top tier and is widely blamed for fueling the post-2003 insurgency.
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Saddam invades Kuwait, triggering the Gulf War
On 2 August 1990 Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and annexation of Kuwait, claiming it as Iraq's 19th province. A US-led coalition expelled Iraqi forces in the 1991 Gulf War, and the subsequent UN sanctions regime devastated Iraqi society for over a decade. The miscalculation isolated Iraq and set in motion the confrontation that ended in the 2003 US invasion.
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Ba'athist regime carries out the Anfal genocide and Halabja gas attack
During the 1988 Anfal campaign the Ba'athist government under Saddam Hussein killed an estimated 50,000–100,000 Kurds and razed thousands of villages; on 16 March 1988 it gassed the town of Halabja, killing some 5,000 civilians. Iraqi and other courts later recognized Anfal as genocide — among the starkest cases of a ruling party's violent conduct in the dataset.
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Ba'ath Party seizes power in the 17 July 1968 coup
On 17 July 1968 the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party took power in Iraq through a coup, installing Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as president with Saddam Hussein as the regime's enforcer and eventual president (from 1979). The party then ran Iraq as a one-party state for 35 years.
Marquee bills
All bills →Compass · Iraq
Country mean — Economic +0.3, Social -4.2
Ringed dots are parties currently in government. See the full regional compass · hand-coded estimates; methodology.
Current leadership · grouped by party
13 political figures across 7 groups. Coalition parties first, then opposition, then unaffiliated.
Independents / unaffiliated
Parties
- Ba'ath Party (Iraq) حزب البعث (العراق)
The Iraqi branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party — Saddam Hussein's ruling party from 1968; banned and dismantled by de-Ba'athification after the 2003 invasion.
- Kurdistan Democratic Party الحزب الديمقراطي الكردستاني
Led by · Masoud Barzani (President of KDP)
Iraqi Kurdish nationalist party led by the Barzani family. Dominant force in Erbil-based Kurdistan Regional Government.
- National Wisdom Movement تيار الحكمة الوطني
Led by · Ammar al-Hakim
Shia Islamist movement founded by Ammar al-Hakim after his split from the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq; positions itself as moderate-Islamist and reform-minded.
- Patriotic Union of Kurdistan الاتحاد الوطني الكردستاني
Led by · Bafel Talabani
Iraqi Kurdish social-democratic party originally founded by Jalal Talabani as a left-leaning alternative to the KDP; based in Sulaymaniyah.
- Sairoon Alliance تحالف سائرون
Led by · Muqtada al-Sadr
Shia-populist electoral alliance led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr; combines anti-corruption framing with Iraqi-nationalist (anti-foreign-influence) politics.
- State of Law Coalition ائتلاف دولة القانون
Led by · Nouri al-Maliki
Shia Islamist electoral coalition centered on the Islamic Dawa Party; led by former PM Nouri al-Maliki. Mixes Islamic-democratic framing with Shia communal politics.
Source documents · 28
All docs →- Masrour Barzani (Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq) — interview with The National, 5 Feb 2026: the KRG mediated between Damascus, the SDF and the US/France over Syria's Kurds, urging the new Syrian government to "lead and not be led" and enshrine Kurdish rights in the constitution; presses intra-Kurdish unity ("Elections should matter") and resolving Erbil–Baghdad oil/budget disputes constitutionally. 46 words
- Nouri al-Maliki (twice PM of Iraq; State of Law / Dawa; Coordination Framework's PM candidate) — post on X, 28 Jan 2026, after Trump threatened to cut US support over his comeback: "We categorically reject the blatant American interference in Iraq's internal affairs… a violation of sovereignty." The Iraqi sovereigntist / anti-US-interference pole. [Second doc — distinct sovereignty axis; an evolution from his 2006 US-Congress address.] 43 words
- Nechirvan Barzani (President, Kurdistan Region of Iraq; KDP) — press conference on Iraq's parliamentary-election day, 11 Nov 2025 (Rudaw): Iraq must make a "serious effort" to implement the constitution (the KDP's central demand on Kurdistan's autonomy), and he hopes the vote ushers in "a democratic federal Iraq where all components get their rights." 52 words
- البرنامج الانتخابي لائتلاف دولة القانون — الثوابت السياسية والمرتكزات الوطنية 112 words
- Iraq — Statement at the 80th UN General Assembly General Debate (23 Sep 2025, Pres Abdullatif Jamal Rashid) 785 words
- Mohammed al-Halbousi (leader, Taqaddum/Progress Party; former Speaker of Iraq's Parliament) — al-Rasheed readout of his meeting with northern Babil notables, 10 Sep 2025: security/provincial stability via return of the displaced, reconstruction of damaged areas, social harmony, "preserving entitlements," and active election participation. (Outlet readout, not a verbatim quote.) 50 words
Briefs from Iraq
Hand-written political-science mini-papers involving Iraq parties. 1 brief on file.
How to cite
Each record carries a retrieval date because the dataset is live — individual entries update as verification deepens. Use the per-record citation when referencing this specific profile; use the dataset citation below when referencing the project as a whole.
In-text: (Gara, 2026)
Per-record citation
APA 7Reference list · academic default
Gara, T. (2026). Iraq [Country profile]. Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/c/IQ
Chicago author-dateCommon in political-science journals
Gara, Tarek. 2026. "Iraq." Country profile, Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset. Accessed August 6, 2026. https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/c/IQ.
BibTeXFor LaTeX / Zotero / reference managers
@misc{tayyar-country-iq,
title = {{Iraq}},
author = {Gara, Tarek},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset},
type = {Country profile},
url = {https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/c/IQ},
urldate = {2026-08-06},
note = {First-pass entry; second-pass external review planned before publication.}
} Dataset / working-paper citation
If you're citing Tayyar as a project rather than this individual record.
APA 7Preprint
Gara, T. (2026). Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset [Preprint]. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/paper
BibTeXPreprint
@unpublished{tayyar-preprint,
title = {{Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset}},
author = {Gara, Tarek},
year = {2026},
type = {Preprint},
url = {https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/paper},
urldate = {2026-08-06},
note = {Living document, regenerated from the live dataset on page load.}
} First-pass entry; second-pass external review planned before publication.