Religions, Political leaders and Political parties in present-day Iraq

        There are many religions in Iraq, but the main religion is Islam. Iraq is 97% Muslim.(60-65% Shi'a, 32-37% Sunni.)  The city Karbala has a definite prominence of mostly Shi'a people. Also, Sammara is a holy place for predominantly Shi'a and some Sunni people because relatives of the prophet Mohammed are buried there. Christianity in Iraq represents a small minority of people, mostly in the North. They represent 3% of Iraqi religions. A very small religion in Iraq is Yazdânism. These people live near Mosul and are made up of ethnic Kurds. They date back to pre-islamic times and Mosul is their holy grounds. Finally, Judaism was once a big religion in Iraq until the majority fled to Israel. Fewer than 100 Jews remain in Iraq.

      Iraq is a multi-party state. The political parties are usually set up ethnic affiliation. There are many parties and alliances in Iraq. After the 2010 election there was 325 seats in the Iraqi cabinet. The main parties and Alliances include: United Iraqi Alliance UIA, National Iraqi List / Iraqiya, Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq SCIRI/ISCI, and Kurdistan Alliance. There are Kurdish parties, Secular Nationalist Parties, Shi’a Parties,Sunni Parties and minority parties. There are so many political parties in Iraq. They run such things like oil, foreign affairs and everything else.

       Also, in Iraq there are many leaders. The United States has helped Iraq shadow the U.S government. Iraq has the framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic. It is a multi-party system whereby the executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers as the head of government, as well as the President of Iraq, and legislative power is vested in the Council of Representatives and the Federation Council. Present day Iraq has a president and his name is Jalal Talabani. He was elected in 2005. He inspired a Kurdish revolt against Suddam Hussein ( former leader/dictator of Iraq).

Iraq has finally made a steady government with the help of U.S forces. In 2010 the prime minister  Nouri al-Maliki won his second term. Al-Maliki and his government succeeded the Iraqi Transitional Government. His 37-member Cabinet was approved by theNational Assembly and sworn in on May 20, 2006. 

        The new government includes all of Iraq’s major communities. The Sunnis  disenfranchised after boycotting the 2005 election, were given several top posts, including speaker of Parliament. President Obama has rightly promised to withdraw all American troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. Mr. Maliki insisted that that deadline is firm. The federal government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as well as numerous independent commissions. In my opinion, the future of Iraq is all in the hands of these government leaders, no one else.

      

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/party.htm

http://www.terra.es/personal/mothman/iraq.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Iraq