Iraq’s election results are coming in and rivals of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi have made big gains in Saturday’s parliamentary elections. With most votes counted, the Sayirun coalition led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Hadi al-Amiri’s al-Fatih coalition are ahead in the polls. Mr Abadi’s governing alliance seems to be running in third place.
Meanwhile, results from Erbil, Sulaimani, and Duhok suggest the KDP has won the most seats in the Kurdistan Region. Many parties, however, have called for a manual recount and complained alleged fraud had taken place in these elections. Final results are expected to be known by the end of the day.
Lastly, Israel’s Netta has won the Eurovision Song Contest for her quirky dance song Toy – complete with its trademark chicken dance. She had been an early favourite, but the vote went down to the wire with Cyprus finishing in second place.
