According to Reuters the alliance between Abadi’s Victory Alliance, which came third in a May parliamentary election, and Sadr’s Sairoon list, which won the largest number of seats, increases the chances of forming a government after weeks of political tensions.

“We announce a cross-sectarian, cross-ethnic alliance to speed up forming the next government and to agree on common points that guarantee the interests of the Iraqi people,” Sadr said at a news conference in the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf.

He called for a wider alliance consisting of all components of Iraqi society that would form an inclusive government.

Abadi and Sadr both called on the leaders of other blocs to meet and “agree on the coming steps” in order to speed up the formation of an inclusive Iraqi government.

Political leaders in Iraq traditionally hold such meetings after elections as part of the lengthy and often complicated process of forming a coalition government, as no one party ever wins enough seats to form a government on its own.

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