With less than a week to go before the April 30 Iraqi parliamentary elections, the Iraqi street has turned into a competitive market for political parties, each of which is trying to win the confidence of voters to obtain the biggest share of the pie.

The competing parties have resorted to various methods to win votes. Some of these methods are unfair given the absence of clear rules organizing the elections and campaigns.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki smartly tricked the groups that have been critical of him. He diversified the electoral lists supporting him, so as to create a seemingly competitive electoral atmosphere and obtain the largest share of votes from supporters and opponents alike. Following the announcement of the results, these lists will form the largest coalition qualified to form a government, according to the provisions of the Iraqi Constitution.

Maliki adopted the same method in previous elections on a smaller scale. Different Shiite entities were formed after the 2010 elections to defeat the Iraqiya List, which received the largest number of votes. There is still constitutional ambiguity regarding the legitimacy of this method. The question arises: Which is eligible to form a government — the coalition with the most votes or the coalition formed after the completion of the elections? Previous elections have made the second scenario an acceptable tradition.