ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Ammar al-Hakim announced on Monday his resignation from the leadership of Iraq's largest Shiite party, Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, and simultaneously declared the establishment of a new party under his leadership. Hakim said the National Wisdom Movement is his new party. “We need a new movement to present national projects,” Hakim said. “For this purpose, we are announcing the National Wisdom Movement, which is a new political movement in Iraq.” "We thank our brothers in the Islamic Supreme Council for [being] with us in good times and we are in the process of establishing the National Wisdom Movement,” Hakim addressed Iraqis in a televised statement. He said Iraqis are in need of a new “political movement to embrace its components,” making no difference between its groups. “Corruption must be ended,” he urged. “Iraq’s assets have to be equally shared.” Hakim is also head of the Shiite National Alliance in the Iraqi parliament, the largest faction which holds the post of prime minister. He also thanked the Islamic Republic of Iran. "We thank neighboring Iran and its leader, Ali Khamenei, and its people, for their great stance in supporting Iraq, as well as the supreme authority, Ali al-Sistani, and other political forces,” he said. Hakim, who is considered to have good ties with Kurdish parties, has recently showed strong opposition to the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum bid, describing it as a move supported only by Israel.
