BEIRUT, Lebanon — For nearly five months, Iraqi politicians have wrangled over the shape of their new government.
The bloc led by Moktada al-Sadr, the former Shiite militia leader and longtime American enemy, won the most votes in the May election. He had rebranded himself as an “Iraq First” populist, vowing to fight corruption, opposing both American and Iranian intervention, and promising a new nonsectarian politics.
This week, the wrangling ended and Iraqis got new evidence that perhaps he meant what he said.
On Wednesday, an honor guard stood at attention as Iraq’s new head of state, President Barham Salih, entered the presidential palace in Baghdad’s Green Zone, a day after designating Adel Abdul Mahdi as prime minister.
Both leaders, chosen by consensus in Parliament on Tuesday, were widely seen as capable technocrats. Mr. Abdul Mahdi, who will take the top job, is a former vice president who is unaffiliated with any party and has a reputation for secularism. Mr. Salih, whose post is largely ceremonial, is a Kurdish politician who favors working with the central government in Baghdad.
The choices suggest that Iraq could finally be edging away from the sect- and party-based system that has driven its politics and fomented bloodshed since the American invasion in 2003.
“Iraq still faces the same problems of corruption, unemployment, poor services and the destruction of the areas taken from ISIS, but at last there are two individuals who are capable and well meaning in charge of the country,” said Emma Sky, a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. “They are two competent, moderate, decent leaders, and they are very good friends.”
As to whether the new government would tilt further from Iran or the United States, which have been competing for influence in Iraq since the American-led invasion in 2003, analysts said to expect no big changes.
“Nothing extraordinary is going to change,” said Zaid Al-Ali, the author of “The Struggle for Iraq’s Future.” Mr. Abdul Mahdi, he said, was a political insider who was chosen not because he had a vision for Iraq, but because he did not pose a threat to any of the major parties.
“People who are interested in continuity will be very happy,” Mr. Ali said. “People who want reform or major change, they’ll be unhappy. This is a vote for continuity.”
The new leadership appeared to…
