Iraq’s crisis gets more complex, waiting for a lifeline
Despite calls for dialog and an emphasis on calm, the political crisis in Iraq is becoming more acute with Moqtada al-Sadr closing the door on any discussion.
It seems that the dialog table, which Al-Kadhimi set up and held its first session in the government palace a few days ago, is facing disruption and extinction after the second session, which was scheduled for Thursday, stumbled due to new positions by some forces, including the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which refused to attend without the presence of the representative of the Sadrist movement.
Shirwan Al-Dobrani, a member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives from the Kurdistan Democratic Party bloc, said, “Any national dialog will not be fruitful without the participation of the representative of the Sadrist Movement.” He explained, “The problem is between the Sadrist Movement and the coordinating framework (supported by Iran), and not with other parties.”
This comes at a time when the so-called “minister of the leader” tweeted Friday a message from al-Sadr that “there can be no dialog without radical reform.”
“Let everyone know that I did not and will not accept this abhorrent quota like any member of the people who took it upon themselves to regain stolen rights,” al-Sadr Minister Saleh Mohammed al-Iraqi tweeted.
“I am in the category of the people, and I will not sit with any politician, whatever his demands, without real radical reform,” he said.
This development comes as the leaders of the coordination framework move to collect signatures and present them to the Speaker of Parliament, in order to hold a parliamentary session, through which the President of the Republic will be elected and the largest parliamentary bloc will be charged with presenting its candidate for the prime minister and forming a government. This is considered a provocation to al-Sadr and his supporters, who have been staging a sit-in in the Green Zone for about a month, according to observers.
Protest street explosion
“It is very wrong and could be reflected in the explosion of the protest street, and the insistence of some forces, especially from the coordination framework, to stir up Sadr’s anger through some positions related to holding the parliamentary session or turning the back on demands that he raise, including dissolving parliament and holding early elections,” said Ihsan al-Shammari, head of the Center for Political Thinking.
Al-Sadr, through his “Minister Leader”, threatened, on the eve of a demonstration of his supporters in front of the Supreme Judicial Council building in the presidential area last Wednesday, of escalating situations that will have the effect of “surprise.”
Al-Shammari said, “The complexity of the crisis after al-Sadr’s protest movement has come to require major and real solutions and remedies, more than the issue of a dialog session where the parties are meeting.”
He explained: “The forces of the coordination framework must make realistic concessions without stalling or betting on time, now that the demands are clear and unambiguous.”
The academic adds: “I believe that in the midst of the crisis, the Iraqi solutions have ended, which is why the United Nations is likely to intervene in providing a binding roadmap for all parties to avoid reaching the moment of conflict.”
Al-Sadr is betting on the steadfastness of his supporters and their obedience to his directives in continuing the protests and continuing the sit-in until achieving the demands aimed at reforming the political system in Iraq, in a way that prevents the so-called “corrupt” from again assuming power and returning the state to the influence of “militias.”
Political analyst Najim Al-Qassab asserts, “al-Sadr’s fans are different from any followers of political forces. They are rigid and solid, as they combine fortitude and dogma.
Regarding the possibility of an exit to the current crisis, Al-Qassab asserts: “We have to wait until this August 30th to see the decision of the Federal Court regarding the dissolution of parliament.”
Al-Sadr had directed his followers and supporters, who are affiliated with the protests in the presidential area, to organize official lawsuits demanding the dissolution of parliament and to submit them to the judiciary so that the latter can act “constitutionally” on this matter, he claimed.
