In a statement released on Saturday, the Iraqi Prime Ministry’s press office announced formation of the Iraq Victory coalition and “called on all political groups to join the 'non-ethnic national coalition'.”
The statement quoted Abadi as saying that Iraq Victory coalition has been established based on national capabilities to protect victories gained by the Iraqi forces and respect martyrs' blood and fight corruption.
“This coalition will serve all Iraqis and will strengthen the country's integrity and national sovereignty,” the statement read.
In the meantime, Head of Iraq’s Badr Organization Hadi al-Ameri as well as the Humam Hamoudi, the head of Iraq’s Islamic Supreme Council and several other Iraqi political factions and figures have declared support for Abadi’s Iraq Victory coalition.
Early January, Abadi had retracted his initiative for a major coalition of political parties to pick the next president, prime minister and cabinet members by consensus.
According to Tasnim dispatches, Abadi then decided to withdraw his proposal for one major Iraqi coalition after opposition from a number of political parties.
The prime minister had put forward the proposal for the formation of a big coalition of major Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties to make plans for the political future of Iraq.
Following Iraq’s military success against terrorist groups and its handling of Kurdish tensions, the challenges of 2018 appear to be mainly political.
Iraq is going to hold parliamentary and provincial elections in May, with various groups vying for power.