BAGHDAD — On June 21, Iraq's Supreme Federal Court ruled that parliament's decision to cancel the votes of Iraqis living abroad, displaced people and members of the peshmerga forces was unconstitutional. The results of the elections are expected to remain as they are, and the formation of the next government is supposed to pick up speed in light of this recent judicial ruling.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the leader of al-Nasr coalition, expressed his intent to host the leaders of the winning blocs before the end of this month to discuss the paths of forming the next government and outline the next phase. “We launched a national initiative before Eid al-Fitr [June 15] for a broad national meeting that includes all political blocs to agree on the state administration programs, not just the government,” he said at a press conference on June 20.

He explained that the national consensus aims to speed up the proper formation of state institutions after the elections, noting, “Political blocs welcomed our national meeting initiative with arms wide open.”

Abadi called on “political blocs to cooperate to form an operation room, or as we call it, a preparatory committee to lay the foundations of any political agreement to set the next government program.”