Shiite Coordination Framework avoids responding to al-Sadr's withdrawal, announces move to resolve "political blockage"

“We urge [our brothers] to place the interests of the nation and citizens above partisan and factional interests”

Mustafa Shilani 2022/04/02 11:37

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Shiite Coordination Framework (SCF) avoided responding to the withdrawal of Muqtada al-Sadr from efforts to form an Iraqi government, giving his opponents 40 days to form it.

The SCF had previously said that it intended to launch an initiative to resolve the political impasse, but Al-Sadr preempted the framework's initiative by announcing his withdrawal from government formation efforts. Muqtada al-Sadr stands at the head of the Sadrist Movement, which, along with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Sunni Siyada Alliance, has been trying to form a “national majority government”.

The SCF said in a statement, "based on the legitimate, national and moral responsibility entrusted to it, the coordinating framework is still ready for serious and constructive dialogue with all blocs and independents to get out of the political blockage."

The framework called on all sides to "bear responsibility and not insist on the equation of breaking wills, which would complicate the scene in vain, and the only one affected by it is the Iraqi people." The framework announced its “vision to address the political blockage, which is based on several foundations, the details of which will be presented by the framework in its dialogues with political forces."

The statement continued, "after the announcement of the largest bloc, the candidate for the position of prime minister is agreed upon according to the required conditions and criteria, such as competence, integrity and independence, and that will be through a joint committee of the coordination framework and the Sadrist bloc."

The coordination framework indicated that its vision stipulates that "the opposition within the House of Representatives will monitor the government and hold it accountable for its mistakes and transgressions, and the opposition will be empowered to carry out its work correctly and protect it in accordance with the law."

The framework concluded its statement by saying, "We reiterate our call to our brothers who rejected our repeated calls for cooperation in righteousness and piety, and we urge them to place the interests of the nation and citizens above partisan and factional interests."

This statement follows a series of efforts on the part of Al-Sadr, the KDP, and Al-Siyada to form a majority government of their own.