This week marks one year since the November 11, 2025 parliamentary elections and six months since Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi took office on May 14. A political newcomer, Zaidi has spent that time assembling a nearly complete cabinet and traveling widely, visiting five of Iraq’s six neighboring countries as well as Washington and New York. One of his first major tests at home is the 2027 federal budget, and the fight over it says as much about who holds influence in Baghdad as it does about the money.