(Baghdad) The influential Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr demanded on Wednesday that the courts dissolve parliament by the end of next week, calling on his supporters to continue their sit in near the Assembly.
Posted at 3:20 p.m.
Iraq is once again mired in a serious political crisis, the two poles of political Shiism chaining verbal jousts and escalations. Supporters of Moqtada Sadr invaded Parliament at the end of July, which they briefly occupied before transferring their camp to the gardens of the institution.
Mr. Sadr called for a dissolution of Parliament and early legislative elections. The next day his opponents in the Coordination Framework – an influential coalition of pro-Iran Shiite factions – had accepted his request – under certain conditions.
“Some might say that dissolving parliament requires a parliamentary session,” Sadr began on his Twitter account.
But some blocks, preferring to share power and preserve “corruption” will not give in on the issue, he accused.
Calling on “the competent judicial authorities”, Mr. Sadr called for this dissolution “within a period not exceeding the end of next week”.
This would allow the president “to set the date for the early elections, under terms that we will announce later.”
According to the Constitution, a dissolution of Parliament must be recorded by an absolute majority vote. It can be requested by a third of the deputies, or by the Prime Minister with the agreement of the President of the Republic.
Mr. Sadr justified his call for justice by recalling that all the deadlines set by the Constitution to appoint a new president and a new head of government had not been respected after the last legislative elections in October 2021.
He invited his former deputies and his supporters to file legal proceedings to demand this dissolution.
Ten months after this election, Iraq is still awaiting the appointment of a prime minister and a president, against a backdrop of political quarrels.
Wednesday evening, in a press release published after that of Mr. Sadr, the Coordination Framework referred to discussions with the other parties to “accelerate the nomination of a presidential candidate”.
The statement calls on the political forces to “continue the constructive dialogue” for a solution to the crisis and to “form a government capable of meeting the challenges […] particularly in the area of energy and water shortages”.
Alluding without naming it to the Sadrist camp, the coalition calls for “respect for the judicial and legislative institutions” and “not to prevent them from exercising their constitutional functions”.
The latest outbreak of fever began when the Sadrist Current refused a candidacy for the post of Prime Minister presented by the Coordination Framework at the end of July.