ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday called for snap parliamentary elections in the country ‘after the dissolution of the current parliament.” This comes as disagreements between the political parties over the formation of a new government has caused a political deadlock.
“I know the majority of the people are fed up with the whole ruling class, which also includes some affiliated with the [Sadrist] Movement. Therefore, exploit my presence to end corruption. Also, the old faces, regardless of affiliations, will not exist anymore… through a democratic, revolutionary, and peaceful process first, and then through democratic, snap elections, after the dissolution of the current parliament,” said said in a live video message late Wednesday.
However, he said his movement has not decided whether to attend the elections he calls for or not.
Iraq held snap parliamentary elections in October but the political parties have failed to elect a president and a prime minister for the country due to disagreements. Sadr, whose movement became the main winner of the vote by gaining 73 seats, ordered all his parliamentarians last month to resign from the parliament. They were later replaced by winning candidates from other political parties.
Sadr’s withdrawal from the legislature made the pro-Iran Coordination Framework the largest coalition. The latter announced Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, Iraq’s former minister of labour and social affairs, as their candidate for the country’s prime minister position late last month.
Sadrists claim that Sudani is a “corrupt” politician and reject his nomination. They have held small and large protests and attacked the offices of the political parties which are part of the Coordination Framework in recent days. They staged an open-ended sit-in inside the legislature building on Saturday but the movement ordered them to leave the building and continue their activities in front of and around it.
Sadr asked Iraqis not to be “deluded” that his struggles are for power “because those who want power would not withdraw 73 MPs from the parliament.”
He called on supporters to continue remain near the parliament building.
Nouri al-Maliki, whose State of Law is the backbone of the Coordination Framework, said in an implicit response to Sadr’s comments hours after his video message that they need “serious talks” to resolve their differences, adding that they should also “return to the Constitution and respect the constitutional institutions,” as reference to the parliament and other institutions.
However, Haider al-Abadi, another member of the Coordination Framework, welcomed Sadr’s speech saying it goes with their own “initiative to resolve this crisis.”
Updated at 9:55pm
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