The Antichrist dominates Iraqi elections marked by low turnout

 

Populist Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr dominates Iraqi elections marked by low turnout

BAGHDAD — Supporters of populist Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr celebrated into the night Monday after initial results from Iraq’s parliamentary elections revealed his party as the biggest winner amid losses for Iranian-backed groups.

In Baghdad, young men cruised the streets of the capital in pickup trucks, blasting music and flashing victory signs. Under the famous Freedom Monument in the capital’s Tahrir Square, once the epicenter of mass protests that triggered this week’s early elections, a jubilant crowd waved emerald flags and pumped photos of the cleric aloft.