at the same time, moqtada al-sadr said in a speech that "only the state can wield force." ese words clearly directed at the paramilitaries that are represented by the fatah coalition. this is highly hypocritical, coming from moqtada al-sadr, who himself controls an armed wing which runs parallel to his political operation. it points to the possibility of significant discord between the very many shiite factions and conflict as well. we have seen sectarian conflict in iraq in the 2010's between the sunni and shiite, but we have not seen inter-shiite conflict before and people are concerned it could lead to that. at the moment it could just be saber-rattling between groups, but in a country with so many weapons and so many military groups there is always the possibility of escalation, so it will bworth observing to see how these disputes will be resolved as they attempt to form a coalitiogovernment. monte: that is our correspondent in baghdad, jack houston. french president emmanuel macron has unveiled a hugely ambitious plan that he says will transform the french economy. th

the party, led by cleric moqtada al-sadr, is likely to emerge with the most power in parliament. oe of the american military, al-sadr is now one of iraq's most powerful leaders. huge street protests demanding a complete overhaul of iraq's political order resulted in this vote, but protesters now fear the election will be neither free nor fair, and some are calling for a boycott. newshour weekend special correspondent simona foltyn reports from iraq. >> reporter: in central baghdad, protesters gather to commemorate the second anniversary of iraq's so-called october revolution, a large-scale protest that began in october 2019. it called for the toppling of the political system put in place by the u.s. after its 2003 invasion of iraq that overthrew saddam hussein. security forces and armed groups, some of whom are linked to incumbent political parties, killed more than 600 people, the faces of the victims imprinted on the flags and posters the protesters carry as they vow to stay the course. alaa al sattar is an engineering graduate and a key organizer. >> ( translated ): today we re

early results from sunday's election in iraq show a coalition led by sheer cleric moqtada al-sadr 1,29 seats. but some political parties have rejected the results. our reporter reports from an opposition stronghold in the south of the country. reporter: for the first time in 20 years, the people of necessary have a voice in iraq's parliament. he is one of four candidates elected to represent the antigovernment movement known as "october," a referen to the nationwide mass protests that began in october of 2019. he and the four others are among 19 candidates elected to represent the southern province and its capital, nasiriya. we met him before the election, when he told us about his decision to fight the election. early results suggest his party has won the second most seats in the province, after moqtada al-sadr's coalition. >> [speaking in arabic] >> we will join forces with independent candidates to form a considerable bloc in parliament. accountability and combating corruption are at the top of our agenda. also all laws related to our human rights and human dignity must be verifie

initial results showed the political party of populist shiite cleric moqtada al-sadr, whose fighters orces during the occupation, made the biggest gains. the sadrist movement won up to 20 additional seats, making it the single biggest bloc in parliament and giving al-sadr an even more decisive vote over iraq's next prime minister. former iraqi prime minister nouri al-maliki is expected to have the second largest number of seats in the parliament as a powerful iran-aligned bloc fell far behind. pro-iranian parties and armed groups denounced the early election results as a "scam." al-sadr claimed victory on monday. >> we welcome all embassies that do not interfere in iraq's internal affairs, as long as they do not interfere in iraq's formation of government. with any intervention, we will have a diplomatic response or perhaps a popular one. iraq is only for iraqis. iraq is only for iraqis. we will work on uniting tribal fronts. stability, stability and safety. weapons are not to be raised under any circumstances. we will not allow parties to take control of public moneynd resources. the

preliminary results from sunday's elections in iraq put populist cleric moqtada al-sadr in the leaderg a blow to sheer militants back by iran. and it is called

the shia muslim majority are expected to dominate the election with populist shi'ite cleric, moqtada al-sadr'sxpected to emerge as parliament's largest faction. today's vote was marked by a boycott from activists who took part in the 2019 protests and there were widespread reports of low voter turnout. final results are expected over the next two days. retired general raymond odierno, who commanded u.s and coalition forces at the height of the war in iraq, has died. general odierno played a major role in the iraq war. referred to as "the big o," the 6'5" four star general urged then president george w. bush to rapidly deploy nearly 20,000 additional american troops to iraq in an effort to combat a growing insurgency. in 2011, general odierno was named the army's chief of staff, where he oversaw the final withdrawal of us forces from iraq. retired general raymond odierno was 67 years old. for more national and international news, visit pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: representatives of the u.s. and afghanistan's ruling taliban government are restarting talks in doha, qatar, this weekend. issu