Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
13-06-2022
BAGHDAD: Iraqi lawmakers loyal to influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned from parliament in order to break the country’s political deadlock.
The Arab country has failed to form a new government nearly eight months after parliamentary elections.
According to a report published by the official Iraqi News Agency, members of the movement handed in their resignations in al-Hannana, the headquarters of the political party in the holy shrine city of Najaf.
Earlier, Sadr had called on all lawmakers loyal to him to “write their resignation,” warning that “they won’t disobey me.”
“The country’s reform will only take place with a national majority government,” he said in a televised statement on Thursday, adding, “If the survival of the Sadr bloc is an obstacle to the formation of the government, then all representatives of the bloc are ready to resign from parliament.”
“Iraq needs a government backed by a majority that serves the people,” the prominent cleric said.
The Sadr movement has formed an alliance with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Masoud Barzani, and other parties to form a coalition, the movement has, however, failed to find common ground with its rival, the Coordination Framework.
Iraqi parliamentary elections were held on October 10 last year, the fifth in Iraq since the US-led invasion of the Arab country in 2003.
They were originally planned to be held in 2022, but the date was brought forward in the wake of a mass protest movement that broke out in 2019 to call for economic reforms, better public services, and an effective fight against unemployment and corruption in state institutions.
The Fatah (Conquest) Alliance, the political arm of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) resistance coalition managed to secure 17 seats, compared to the 48 it held in the outgoing parliament.
Former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s State of Law Alliance won 33 seats, while al-Sadr’s Sairoon coalition, Fatah’s biggest rival, won 73 seats, compared to its previous 54 seats, making his party the first bloc in parliament, and thus giving him considerable influence in forming a government.
According to Arab media, Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Thursday called on his parliamentary bloc members to resign from the parliament over the failure to form a new government in Iraq, according to the official Iraqi news agency.
The al-Sadr bloc has 73 legislators in the 329-seat parliament, following parliamentary elections held in October last year.
“A national majority government is the only way to reform the country,” al-Sadr said.
He seeks to form a national majority government without former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Iran-aligned coalition.
Most Shia parliamentary groups have rejected the move, citing their Coordination Framework, which calls for a coalition government involving all parliamentary blocs.
Arab News claims that Iraq’s firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr made a high-stakes protest Thursday by calling on the 73 lawmakers loyal to him to ready resignation papers to end an eight-month parliamentary paralysis.
Parliament in Baghdad has been in turmoil since October’s general election, and intense negotiations among political factions have failed to forge a majority in support of a new prime minister to succeed Mustafa Al-Kadhemi. (Int’l News Desk)
