Vote On Iraq’s Next President Delayed

(Al Mirbad)

Monday February 7 Iraq’s parliament was supposed to vote for a new president. The leading candidate, the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) Hoshyar Zebari was ruled ineligible by a court however so the session was postponed by Moqtada al-Sadr. He continues to control the process over forming the new government and once a new figure is chosen for the position parliament will likely meet and elect him.

 

Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court ruled that Hoshyar Zebari was temporarily banned for running for president because of his dismissal in 2016 as Finance Minister on corruption charges. The KDP blames the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) who wants its Barham Salah to remain as president for the lawsuit that banned Zebari. The two parties have agreed to work together in Baghdad but it is an unequal partnership. The KDP is now the dominant party and wants to gain control of all of the major Kurdish offices which includes the presidency that has gone to the PUK since 2005. The KDP either has to get another court decision on Zebari or pick a second candidate. Once that’s done he should be elected since the KDP has an alliance with Sadr to form the next government.

 

Speaking of which Sadr remains the political boss in charge of the political process. He realized Zebari could not be elected and did not want the PUK or his main opponents the Coordination Framework made up of the other Shiite parties to disrupt the session so he ordered his followers to boycott the proceedings. They were joined by the KDP and Khamis al-Khanjar’s Azm Alliance.

 

Sadr has always wanted to ascend to the top of Iraqi politics something his father Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr aspired to as well. His parliamentarians have been crucial to forming governments since elections were first held in 2005, but this is the first time that he is actually in the lead. He is set upon forming a majority regime, but that could lead to violence and instability in Iraq as those he wants to exclude, Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law and Asaib Ahl Al-Haq’s Qais Khazali, have already carried out attacks upon Sadr and his coalition. He shows little inclination to compromise and has not given into pressure from Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. He has no reason to at this point since he has largely been successful in implementing his vision. At the same time, he has a track record of completely reversing course when it suits him so things could change.

 

SOURCES

 

Al Aalem, “Cohesion and collapse .. Where did Sadr-Barzani’s alliance reach?” 2/6/22

- “Disruption or acceleration .. Hours before the most complex session to elect the President of the Republic,” 2/5/22

 

Agence France Presse, “Sadrist bloc to boycott Iraq parliament vote to pick next president,” 2/5/22

 

Al Mada, “Al-Sadr blocks the road to the blocking third and stops negotiations to form a new government,” 2/6/22

 

NRT, “Iraqi Court Suspends KDP Candidate Zebari From Presidential Race,” 2/6/22

 

Sirwan, Dilan, “Iraq fails to vote for president, KDP committed to Zebari,” Rudaw, 2/7/22

 

Xinhua, “Iraqi parties boycott parliament vote for president,” 2/7/22