 |
| (AP) |
While negotiations over forming a new government are going nowhere the Sadrists and their allies are set upon controlling the next parliament. The Sadrist Deputy Speaker Hakim Zamili said that the parliamentary committees have been decided upon and will be appointed soon.
The assembly has only met a few times due to the deadlock between the Sadr bloc and its opponents in the Coordination Framework. When it has met Sadr’s National Salvation Alliance has named committees with members only from its list taking advantage of the Framework’s boycott. The last time MPs met for instance the Legal and Foreign Relations Committees were elected. This is both a threat to the Framework that it will be excluded from leadership if it continues its blocking moves as well as an expression of Sadr’s desire for a majority government. Sadr doesn’t believe a majority will be a move towards a more democratic Iraq and a step away from the old system where every winning party was given a slice of the government pie. Rather he just sees it as a means to concentrate power in his alliance’s hands. This is also the reason why the Framework opposes Sadr because it can’t afford to lose any positions because that will mean a loss of money and patronage. It’s an existential threat to the Framework and the cause of the current deadlock that appears to have no end in sight.
SOURCES
Al-Slahy, Suadad, “Iraq: Sadr bets on keeping PM Kadhimi and using political limbo to edge out rivals,” Middle East Eye, 5/13/22
No comments:
Post a Comment