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(Reuters) |
Mohammed Allawi gave a speech apologizing to the public for failing to form a government and stepped down as the prime minister designate. The ruling parties are still divided about how to move forward leaving the government in continued crisis.
Iraq’s parliament fell short four
times to find a quorum to vote on Allawi’s cabinet leading him to give up on
creating a new government. Allawi was supported
by Moqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon and the Fatah list headed by Badr’s Hadi Amiri.
His main critics were the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Iraqi Forces
list of Speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi. Allawi said he wanted a non-partisan
cabinet, while the KPD and Iraqi Forces wanted to maintain
the quota system to assure them of positions, and were afraid that Sairoon
and Fatah would dominate Allawi’s administration. Some of the other Shiite
parties were
divided over the matter as well. The result was parliament was never able
to get enough lawmakers to vote on the cabinet.
This was the country’s latest political failure. Prime
Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi was selected in 2018 as an independent. With no
political party behind him he proved feckless in the face of the demands of the
party leaders with his only accomplishment being the passing of the budget. He resigned in November 2019 in
the face of national protests demanding change. Allawi too was an independent.
Sairoon and Fatah said that he was only going to have a limited
mandate that they set for him such as removing the U.S. military from the
country and scheduling new elections, but he talked about carrying out widespread
reforms, which didn’t endear him to many politicians. The larger problem is
that the ruling class is set in its ways. They run an oil rich state which
makes them independent of the public because they don’t rely upon them for
taxes despite the democratic system. Now they are being called on to be
accountable, which they have never been. In the face of massive protests they
simply wanted to replace one figurehead premier with another while maintaining
all of their power and privilege. The result is that Baghdad finds itself in
political limbo unwilling to change in the face of a popular revolt.
SOURCES
Al Aalem, “A political source likely to give confidence to
the Allawi government tomorrow, after the concession to Barzani and Halbousi,”
2/29/20
Ahmed, Hassan Ali, “Iraq’s PM designate mired in Cabinet
dilemma,” Al Monitor, 2/28/20
Asharq Al-Awsat, “Iraq: Last Minute Negotiations to Form
Government,” 3/1/20
Buratha News, “The text of Mohammed Allawi’s letter to the
President of the Republic regarding his apology for assigning the government,”
3/2/20
Ghafuri, Lawk, “Kurds strike deal with Baghdad opposition in
a bid to block cabinet formation,” Rudaw, 3/1/20
Laessing, Ulf, Aboulenein, Ahmed, “Iraq power vacuum: acting
PM steps aside after designated successor quits,” Reuters, 3/2/20
Al Masalah, “The Amiri bloc is demanding early elections
within 6 months, with the Abdul Mahdi government remaining,” 3/2/20
- “The President of the Republic receives Al-Hakim and
Al-Maliki and announces that he began his consultations to choose a new Prime
Minister,” 3/2/20
NINA, “Leaks About Scenario Of A New Deal To Assign Another
Candidate To Replace Allawi,” 3/1/20
- “The State of Law Coalition renews its position not to
participate in the new government,” 2/29/20
Al-Salhy, Suadad, “Iraq: political factions wrangle over
government formation before vote,” The National, 2/23/20
Xinhua, “Iraqi parliament fails to meet to vote on new
cabinet,” 2/27/20
2 comments:
who are the "iraqi forces" on the spectrum?
The Sunni parties split with some aligning with the pro-Iran Fatah alliance. This was supposedly partially achieved by giving out bribes. The Iraqi Forces are most of the remaining Sunni parties and are with Speaker Halbusi They believe in working with the central govt.
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