Eleven Iraqi political parties and groups of the “Democratic Forces of Change” announced the formation of a political alliance to run in the provincial elections scheduled for Dec. 18.

The coalition includes an agreement with the al-Watan alliance.

In a statement, the coalition announced it was open to partners in various governorates ahead of the elections.

The electoral coalition will be formally unveiled during a press conference in the coming days.

The statement added that the groups aim to achieve national democratic change to establish a modern democratic civil state that adopts political and societal democracy based on citizenship and social justice.

The coalition includes the Iraqi Communist Party, Nazil Akhud Haqqi Movement (Coming to Take My Rights), the Social Democratic Current, lawmaker Sajjad Salem, the Iraqi Promise Movement, the National Civil Movement, the Democratic Current, the Tishreen Democratic Movement, the Watan Parliamentary Alliance among others.

All the allied for, safe for independent MP Sajad Salem, are not represented at parliament.

The majority of the members of the alliance had taken part in the October 2019 protest movement, but they did not run in the latest parliamentary elections that were held in October 2021.

Leading member of the Iraqi Communist Party Yasser al-Salem told Asharq Al-Awsat that the coalition will compete in 15 provinces, excluding Kurdistan

The new electoral law may allow them to win seats, in spite of the objections against it.

On Tuesday, the government postponed the elections from November to Dec. 18. They were last held in April 2013.

The new elections are supposed to cover 15 provinces, including the province of Kirkuk that is disputed between Baghdad and the Kurdistan region.

The three Kurdish provinces, Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaymaniyah, are running local elections separate from the rest of Iraq.