The recent announcement of a new Sunni alliance headed by wealthy businessman Khamis al-Khanjar opens a new chapter in the ongoing competition over the political leadership and spoils in post-election Iraq. The New Determination bloc, so far made up of 34 winners in the October election and hailing from five small parties, represents a serious challenge to Mohammed al-Halbusi’s political claim of Sunni representation in Baghdad. As the top Sunni winner with 37 seats, Halbusi’s Progress bloc, drawing several independent winners, now has 43 seats, making it the single most powerful Sunni player. The formation of Khanjar’s new bloc, with its membership likely to grow, will complicate Halbusi’s effort to become the sole leader of the Sunnis.
The immediate bone of contention between the two alliances is the speakership of the new parliament. Reserved for Sunnis in Iraq’s ethnosectarian power-sharing formula, the speakership carries with it the most political leverage and economic patronage a Sunni could aspire to. As the speaker of the outgoing parliament, Halbusi used the post to build his political base, pursuing a reconstruction campaign in Ramadi that earned him popular support, translating into his alliance’s electoral win in the recent election.
