BAGHDAD — Supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr were already celebrating in the streets the night after the Oct. 10 elections while parties more closely linked to Iran made vague threats about what might happen if they were “cheated” out of votes. A week later, relatively minor protests had begun against alleged voter fraud and some threats of violence had begun to circulate.

Meanwhile, the Sunni community seems to have voted mostly en masse for a party led by Iraq’s youngest parliamentary speaker ever, Anbar native Mohammed al-Halbusi. He was named parliament speaker in September 2018, a few months after the previous elections in May of that year.

The Oct. 10 vote was Iraq’s fifth parliamentary elections since the 2003 invasion and was widely seen as its safest yet, with no major attacks or threats reported. Turnout for the vote was poor, however: Less than half the population eligible to do so voted.

Massive protests in late 2019 led the 2018 government to resign and only months later was Prime Minister and Iraqi National Intelligence Service chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi sworn in, pledging among other things to hold early elections after enacting changes to the electoral law. Both pledges were kept.