Tents, processions and food in the Iraqi parliament: this is how the Sadrist movement began the ceremony of the first day of Ashura in the corridors of the Majlis, located inside the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, the day after their public session began. -in.
For the second time in less than a week, thousands of supporters of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the parliament, expressing their opposition to the candidacy of al-Sadr’s opponents for the post of prime minister.
This escalation will further complicate the political scene in a country that has been completely paralyzed since the October 2021 early legislative elections, with endless negotiations and skirmishes between major parties that have so far been unable to agree on the election of a president and the appointment of a new prime minister. minister.
On Sunday morning, volunteers distributed soup, boiled eggs, bread and water to protesters who spent their first night in Parliament.
In the Parliament garden, some sat on mats under palm trees, while others slept on mattresses and blankets spread out on the floor of the Majlis.
Street vendors spread out around the area offering cold drinks such as tamarind, ice cream and cigarettes to the protesters.
The demonstrators reject the name of Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, who was nominated by al-Sadr’s political opponents for the post of prime minister in a coordinating structure that includes Shiite blocs, most notably the State of Law led by former prime minister Nouri al-Sadr. Maliki and the Al-Fateh bloc, representing the pro-Iranian factions of the People’s Mobilization.
Umm Hussein (42) says that “Sadr’s demands are for honest government outside the box. Within this structure, individuals are nominated who are known for their corruption, who have done nothing for the country, regardless of whether they are Sudanese or not.”
After Saturday’s Sadrist demonstrations, various Iraqi political parties continued to call for calm and dialogue.
In this tense environment, official working hours were suspended on Sunday in all governorates on the occasion of the beginning of the month of Muharram, according to the Cabinet of Ministers, “with the exception of security agencies” and at a rate of 50%. in the service and health departments.
For his part, Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani launched an initiative for dialogue between political parties, urging them in a statement yesterday to “come to Erbil… and start an open and inclusive dialogue to reach mutual understanding and an agreement based on the highest interests of the country.”
As he exerts popular pressure on his opponents, al-Sadr left them the task of forming a government after 73 members of parliament from the Sadr movement resigned from parliament last June after occupying the largest bloc in it. number of seats.
The Sadrist movement, which has the largest number of deputies (329), wanted to elect a prime minister and form a majority government in alliance with the Sunni and Kurdish parties, but was unable to do so because it did not gain the necessary majority in parliament.
However, the message “Al-Sadr is sending to those in the process of forming a government is that he still has the power of the street,” Renad Mansour, a researcher at Chatham House, told AFP.
