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Iraq
An Iraqi anti-government protester beats with his cap a defaced poster of Assaad al-Aidani, the governor of Basra, during a demonstration in Baghdad's Tahrir Square on December 26, 2019. Photo: AFP / Ahmad Al-Rubaye
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi President Barham Salih submitted his resignation letter to parliament in the face of pressure from the Bina coalition to name Basra’s current governor as the next Prime Minister of Iraq.
The pro-Iran Bina coalition claims to be the largest bloc in Iraqi parliament. According to the Iraqi constitution, the largest bloc in parliament has the constitutional prerogative to select Iraq’s new prime minister.
The coalition, headed by Hadi al-Ameri and former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, nominated Basra governor Asaad al-Aidani. They sent a letter to President Salih requesting that he assign al-Aidani to lead Iraq’s new cabinet.
Salih refused the nomination of Asaad al-Aidani and offered his resignation letter to parliament rather than succumb to intense pressure from the Bina coalition to name al-Aidani as the new prime minister.
The Bina coalition released a statement on Thursday in response, saying that the letter of President Barham Salih and his refusal to appoint their candidate to the post of prime minister is a “clear violation of the Iraqi constitution.”
“The side that is supposed to follow the Iraqi constitution is violating it today, and that will shift the country into chaos, which will not serve any side except the western side and agenda,” the statement read. “We ask the Iraqi parliament to take legal actions against the Iraqi President for his violation of the Iraqi constitution.”
Young Iraqis first took to the streets on October 1 demanding jobs, services, and an end to corruption. The protests halted during the Shiite ceremony of Arbaeen on October 9, but resumed on October 25 with radical demands for an overthrow of the post-2003 political order.
More than 511 protesters and members of the security forces have been killed and around 17,000 more wounded since October 1. The government’s brutal repression of the protests led to increased pressure for Abdul-Mahdi to resign, culminating with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, calling for Abdul-Mahdi's resignation in a sermon on Friday, November 29.
Since Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi heeded the demands to step down and submitted his resignation on November 30, there has been intense political sparring between politicians, parliamentary blocs and protesters over who will be nominated to lead Iraq’s next cabinet.
According to the Iraqi constitution, the President of Iraq has 15 days to appoint a new Prime Minister after the resignation letter of the previous Prime Minister is approved by the parliament. However, during the 15 day period, the current cabinet continues to act as a caretaker government.
It has been almost a month after Abdul-Mahdi resigned from his position as Iraq’s Prime Minister, but Iraq’s various political blocs are still locked in negotiations to nominate a suitable candidate to replace him. Several names have been put forward for the job, but all have been refused by the protesters.
The Bina coalition, headed by Hadi al-Amiri, counts former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and political parties affiliated with Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) paramilitaries among its membership.
The rival Islah Coalition is headed by Muqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shiite cleric who heads both the Sairoon parliamentary bloc and the Saraya al-Salam armed militia and enjoys immense popular support. Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is also a member.
When Abadi’s term ended in October 2018, it took the two coalitions months to agree upon Adel Abdul-Mahdi as his successor. Abdul-Mahdi, an independent technocrat, was chosen as the "candidate of compromise" for premiership.
After President Barham Salih submitted his resignation to the Iraqi parliament on Thursday, Salih Mohammed al-Iraqi, a source who is very close to Sadr, posted on Facebook a list of potential nominees for prime minister. He wrote in the post that the nominees are approved by both Muqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi people, saying his list of nominees “are approved by the people, and this is the feeling that I have.”
Sadr’s choices for prime minister are Mustafa al-Khadimi, current head of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, retired judge Rahim al-Akeely, and Fayiq Sheikh Ali, an independent liberal politician and member of Iraqi parliament.
Ali had already submitted a letter to President Salih on December 18 offering his candidacy as an independent politician to be appointed prime minister and form the next Iraqi government.
Ali is an openly anti-Iranian politician and often speaks out against the external influences that are visible in the government and political landscape of Iraq. He is popular within the ranks of the protest movement, and many Iraqis have taken to Twitter to express their support for his appointment.
Bashir Haddad, the second deputy to the speaker of the Iraqi parliament, told Rudaw on Thursday that the Iraqi president's letter of resignation has been received by the Iraqi parliament's presidency board.
“Today the letter of resignation of the Iraqi President has been received by the Iraqi parliament presidency board,” Haddad said. “The president apologized for not nominating Asaad al-Aidani, and showed his readiness to resign to keep his oath as president.”
Haddad also added that, “The parliament session is postponed until further notice, so for that reason it is not clear whether the letter will undergo voting inside the parliament, or will be refused by the presidency board to be in the next session's agenda and won’t be under consideration of the parliament.”
This article was last updated at 10:57 PM (GMT +3) on Thursday, December 26, 2019.
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