BAGHDAD — For the first time since 2005, the Islamic Dawa Party finds itself far removed from the head of Iraq’s federal government. The number of seats it holds in the new parliament dropped dramatically from those won in the previous elections in 2014, which saw a major split in the party.

Ibrahim al-Jafari, Dawa's former secretary-general, held the post of interim prime minister from 2005 until 2006, before his successor and the party’s current leader, Nouri al-Maliki, took the role from 2006 to 2014. In August 2014, Haider al-Abadi took over.

It could be argued that the biggest reason behind the party's loss of the premiership to the compromise candidate, Adel Abdul Mahdi, was its division into two lists — the Victory list headed by outgoing Abadi and Maliki's State of Law list. The Electoral Commission does not permit one party to run on two electoral lists.

Dawa leader Hassan al-Sunaid told Al-Monitor, “There are calls by the leaders of the Islamic Dawa Party to hold an urgent conference, with the aim of unifying internal ranks and electing a new secretariat for the party.” A date has not been set.