After protests: Iraq’s Shiite leader Al-Sadr calls for new elections

After protests
Iraq’s Shia leader Al-Sadr is calling for new elections

In Iraq, the influential Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr called for new elections after the parliament was occupied. “There is no need for dialogue,” the minister said in a televised speech on Wednesday. After the leadership of his movement initially called on the demonstrators to withdraw from the parliament building on Tuesday, the 47-year-old has now called on the Iraqis to join the “revolution”.

With the storming of parliament at the weekend, an old power struggle between the political elites in Iraq flared up. With the protests, the al-Sadr movement wants to prevent its political opponents around former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki from forming a government. Sadr’s rivals recently presented their own prime ministerial candidate. From Al-Sadr’s point of view, the former minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who is intended for the post, is far too close to ex-Prime Minister Al-Maliki.

Almost ten months after the general election, the oil-rich country is in a stalemate. Al-Sadr’s movement emerged as the clear victor at the time, but failed to secure the important two-thirds majority required for the presidential election. A new government can only be formed with the support of the head of state. Because of the blockade in parliament, members of the Sadr movement resigned as a body. The religious leader is now relying on the “pressure of the street”.

According to information from Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron has offered to help with dialogue and understanding between the various sides in talks with Iraqi politicians in the past few days. A statement from the Elysee Palace on Wednesday said that this was the only way to find a solution to the crisis that would meet the expectations of the Iraqi people.

dpa