After talks about the crisis in Baghdad on Monday, Iraq moved closer to having parliamentary elections right away.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, President Barham Salih, UN Ambassador Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and leaders from the Coordination Framework political bloc, which is backed by Iran, met.
Al-office, Kadhimi’s, says that they “decided to form a technical committee that brings together the different political groups… to bring people together in order to hold early elections.”
Muqtada Al-Sadr and his coalition want parliament to be dissolved and elections to be held right away, but none of their representatives were at the meeting.
Since the elections for the Iraqi parliament in October of last year, Al-Sadr has been at odds with his political opponents who are backed by Iran. Even though Al-Sadr had the most seats, he was not able to form a majority government. Since then, Iraq hasn’t had a new president, prime minister, or government, so its politics have been stuck.
Even though they disagree on some details, Sadr’s Al-opponents are in favour of early voting in general. Even though the cleric wants the courts to do it, the Coordination Framework says that parliament must meet to dissolve the legislature. The Coordination Framework wants to change the laws that would oversee the elections. This is another point of disagreement between the two sides.
The talks on Monday come a week after Sadr’s supporters of Al stormed the government building in the fortified Green Zone of the capital and fought with Iran-backed members of Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi. More than 30 Sadrists were killed and hundreds more were hurt in nearly 24 hours of violence that ended when the cleric told his followers to leave.
Al-supporters, Sadr’s on the other hand, swore allegiance to the imam and said that the battle was far from over on Monday in the city of Najaf in the centre of the country. Mousa Abbas, 21, who backs Al-Sadr, said, “Blood was shed, but there is a lot more where that came from.” “We will get ten martyrs for every one we lose. We will protect them the way they protected us, which was by giving up everything.
Another Sadrist, Sadeq Jaber, said: “We do what our leader and commander tells us to do. Whatever he wants, we are ready. He has control over us all, including our families, homes, and children. There will always be martyrs as long as this ruling elite is in charge.
A preacher in Najaf who backs Al-Sadr said, “The people will either join the Sadrist movement and fight this war to get what they want, or they will join the Framework and stay stuck in the status quo.” There is no way for them to get along.
