Sadr grants opponents ‘opportunity’ to form government without him

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said on Thursday that he is giving his rival political parties an over-one-month period “opportunity” to form a new Iraqi government without his bloc.

Sadr announced in a tweet that he will be stepping back from government formation process temporarily, allowing the “obstructing third” to hold negotiations with all the political parties and form a national majority government, referring to pro-Iran political parties and their allies who have been boycotting parliamentary sessions in a bid to prevent Sadr and his Sunni and Kurdish allies from creating a majority at the legislature. 

“I’m giving (the obstructing third) the opportunity to negotiate with all the blocs without any exceptions, to form a national majority government without the Sadrist bloc, from the first day of the holy Ramadan month to the ninth day of the venerated Shawal month,” said Sadr, referring to two Hijri months. Ramadan is expected to begin on Saturday or Sunday and is followed by Shawal.

Sadr, whose movement was one of the key winners of October 10 parliamentary elections, stated that he was not relinquishing the “blessings from God” that have allowed him to form the largest parliamentary bloc with his allies in the Save the Homeland Alliance, as well as nominating a prime minister “who everyone approves of.” He noted that he was only taking this action “so that Iraq is not left without a government.”

Save the Homeland Alliance is a recently-announced alliance between the Sadrist bloc, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance. They have over 150 seats and backing from some other MPs. 

The alliance has nominated KDP’s Reber Ahmed for the president position and Sadrist Mohammed Jaafar al-Sadr, Sadr’s cousin, for prime minister. However, it has failed to secure the required quorum for a session to vote for Ahmed, who, once elected, can task Jaafar to form a government.  

The Iraqi parliament was scheduled to elect a president on Wednesday. Over a third of MPs boycotted the session, leading to the legislature’s inability to elect a president. The session was adjourned to an unspecified time.

The Coordination Framework, mostly consisting of pro-Iran political parties, was joined by MPs from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the New Generation Movement, both Kurdish Islamic parties, and various independent MPs in boycotting Wednesday’s session.

Sadr had released a different statement on Wednesday, stating he would not be making an agreement with the rival political parties calling for a consensus government “because a consensus would mean the end of the country.”