MOSUL, Iraq — For the first time since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, a Shiite coalition has won in Mosul. According to the final election results announced May. 19, The Nasr Coalition won seven seats, followed by six for the Kurdish Democratic Party and four for al-Wataniya. The majority of the local candidates on Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's list are actually Sunnis, and its head is former Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi, an aeronautical engineer originally from Mosul.
“The Nasr Coalition got the [plurality] in Mosul because it was under Khaled al-Obeidi, who has the respect of the people in Mosul,” Faisal Jeber, a commander in Mosul’s Tribal Mobilization Forces, told Al-Monitor. “The former governor of Ninevah, Atheel al-Nujaifi, didn’t have a good relationship with the government in Baghdad. Mosul’s people are pragmatic, and they understood they need to cooperate with Baghdad. They expect the government to rebuild their city and to be treated as Iraqi citizens, not as Saddamists who deserve to be punished because they are Sunnis.”
