Sadr switches to opposition, calls on political parties to form government
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ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Sadrist Movement leader Muqtada al-Sadr announced on Sunday that he would join the opposition for no less than 30 days and called on political parties to form a government.
“I was honored to see my followers becoming the biggest parliamentary bloc in the history of Iraq,” Sadr tweeted. “And I was honored to have succeeded in forming the largest cross-quota bloc.”
— مقتدى السيد محمد الصدر (@Mu_AlSadr) May 15, 2022
Sadr added that he was also honored that he could depend on himself rather than becoming dependent on outside parties. He pointed out that he did not resort to the judiciary in managing the needs of the people and the requirements for forming a government.
“But due to the increase in the attacks against me from the inside and the outside, we did not succeed in our endeavor [to form a majority government],” he said. “But we have an option left that we must try, which is to turn to the national opposition for no less than 30 days.”
“If the parties and parliamentary blocs, including those whom we had the honor of allying with, succeed in forming a government to alleviate the people’s suffering, then we will be blessed with it,” he concluded. “Otherwise, we will have another decision to announce at the time.”
The Sadr-led Saving the Homeland coalition, which includes the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Al-Siyada Sunni alliance, has tried its best to form a majority government since the October elections.
However, these efforts were opposed by the Shiite Coordination Framework (SCF), which includes Iran-backed political parties and leaders of the armed militias affiliated with them. The SCF calls for forming another consensual government of the kind that has been the norm in post-2003 Iraq.
The SCF worked on passing a decision through the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court that requires 220 parliament members out of the 329 total members to attend the parliament session for electing the president and the prime minister.
Saving the Homeland coalition has failed to reach the quorum required to form a majority government.