His ascendancy comes at the expense of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the preferred candidate of the United States, who came in third. Tensions in the region have mounted — and in particular between the United States and Iran — partly because of President Trump’s decision last week to withdraw the United States from the nuclear deal with Tehran. How the vote tally translates into parliamentary seats will be announced later this week, Iraq’s election commission said. Though Abadi is a Shiite, he performed poorly in Iraq’s Shiite heartland but made history by becoming the only incumbent to ever win Sunni-majority Mosul. The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, declined to say Monday how the outcome of the Iraqi election could impact the presence of American troops.

Source: Washington Post May 14, 2018 22:18 UTC