A state of sectsThe importance of this ideological shift among Shia is because of the institutional structure of governance in Iraq. Despite distancing himself from the Coordination Framework for months before the elections, al-Sudani pragmatically returned to the Coordination Framework afterwards to avoid challenging it in forming the government and choosing the prime minister. This year, the United States attempted to break this sectarian structure by choosing a prime minister from outside the Coordination Framework. The US administration hopes that al-Zaidi will be able to fully disarm Iraqi armed fractions ahead of the American troop withdrawal from Iraq by the end of September. Munqith Dagher is the director of Gallup International for the MENA region and a former advisor to the Iraqi prime minister.