Riz Khan

A new chapter in Iraq?

Following the election, representatives of the country’s main constituencies join the show.

Iraqis came out by the millions to decide on who will lead their country after years of occupation and civil war.

A day after the vote, preliminary results showed that Nouri al-Maliki, the incumbent prime minister, was the front-runner, with the more secular and more anti-Iranian Iyad Allawi close behind.

Official results will not be known for weeks, and then months of haggling are expected before a new coalition government is formed.

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So what changes will these elections bring? And has Iraq weathered the worst of the sectarian divide that threatened to plunge the country into utter chaos three years ago?

On Monday, Riz speaks with three Iraqis representing the main constituencies in the country.

Nada Ibrahim is a member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives and a candidate who ran in Sunday’s election on the list of the National Dialogue Front, a Sunni party. Entifadh Qanbar is a candidate for the Shia-only Iraqi National Alliance. And Qubad Talabani is the Kurdistan Regional Government representative in the US.

This episode of the Riz Khan show aired from Monday, March 8, 2010.