Were injured in a rocket attack this morning targeting a green zone in Baghdad, Iraq, as the Iraqi Parliament is in session to elect the President of the Republic, which paves the way for the formation of a government, a move aimed at bringing the country out of a deep political stalemate. lasting for a year, punctuated by periods of violence and tension.
According to Iraqi media reports, 9 Katyusha missiles were fired at the Green Zone and its environs.
Uncertainty still lingers over Thursday’s meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 11 am local time (8 am GMT) in Parliament, located in the fortified Green Zone, which includes foreign embassies and government offices.
After the legislative elections on October 10, 2021, influential political parties still cannot agree on the name of the new president of the republic and the appointment of a new head of government, which is exacerbating the crisis in a multi-religious and multi-ethnic country.
At the heart of the crisis lies a dispute between the two main Shiite camps: the Sadrist movement on the one hand, and a coordination framework comprising several blocs, including the State of Law, led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the Al-Fateh Bloc, representing faction of the People’s Mobilization.
On the other hand, the presidency reflects fierce competition between the two main Kurdish parties.
This position is usually held by a representative of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, while the Kurdistan Democratic Party runs the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, but the Kurdistan Democratic Party also claims the presidency.
This year, the parliament failed three times to elect the president of the republic because of the discrepancy between the required two-thirds quorum (220 deputies out of 329).
“last minute”
Among the 30 candidates, three stand out, the first of which is incumbent President Barham Salih, the official candidate of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, 78-year-old former minister Abdul Latif Rashid, leader of the Patriotic Union and an independent candidate, and Reber Ahmed, Minister of the Interior of Kurdistan, and candidate of Democratic Party of Kurdistan.
“It is not yet clear whether the Kurdish parties have been able to reach an agreement on the president,” said Hamza Haddad, a researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
“But no matter who is elected, this person will appoint the prime minister,” he said, explaining that “Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani is the most successful person” for this position, and he is a 52-year-old former minister. and the governor, who was chosen by the coordinating structure.
Haddad noted that “in Iraqi politics, everything can change at the last moment.”
The nomination of a coordinating structure for Muhammad Shia al-Sudani in the summer was the spark that caused tension between this structure and the Sadrist movement, whose supporters staged a sit-in in front of parliament for about a month.
But the coordinating structure, which includes the bloc of ex-premier Nouri al-Maliki, did not back down from its candidate.
The structure intends to form a government, which currently represents the largest bloc in parliament, after the sudden withdrawal of the 73-member Sadrist movement from parliament.
Al-Sadr, accustomed to presenting political surprises, calls for the dissolution of parliament and the holding of early elections.
His position on events is still unknown, but in recent weeks he has proven his ability to destabilize the political scene by mobilizing tens of thousands of his supporters into the streets.
Tensions came to a head on Aug. 29 when 30 of his supporters were killed in clashes inside the Green Zone with army and Popular Mobilization forces, Shiite militias loyal to Iran and linked to the state apparatus.
On Monday, the UN mission in Iraq called on political parties to “dialogue without preconditions” to find a way out of “a protracted crisis that threatens to increase instability.”
