Allawi and Abdul-Mahdi discuss forming a government as protests continue in Iraq

The resigned Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi discussed today with the Prime Minister-designate Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi, developments in the situation in the country and the peaceful movement and support efforts to form the new government. This comes in light of the continuing protests in the capital, Baghdad, and the cities of the center and southern Iraq.

An official statement said that Allawi and Abdul-Mahdi affirmed during their meeting the necessity of the cooperation of all Iraqi forces to facilitate the task of the Prime Minister-designate in expediting the selection of the cabinet and strengthening the work of state institutions.

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Baghdad stated that within the corridors of politics, there is no one who confirms that Allawi has completed his cabinet formation, whose term expires at the beginning of next March.

The reporter quoted unofficial sources as saying that Allawi faces obstacles from the political forces that want to share government positions like what happened in previous governments, pointing out that major political blocs spoke a few days ago about the possibility of dispensing with ministerial positions in the Allawi government, provided that the entire cabinet Of technocrats.

And Iraqi President Barham Salih assigned Allawi early February to form the government, and he has 30 days to present his government to parliament to give it confidence.

This commission came after an unspoken agreement between the Sadrist movement leader Muqtada al-Sadr and his rival, leader of the Al-Fath Alliance Hadi al-Amiri, according to observers.

The protests continue
The Tahrir Square in central Baghdad is witnessing a continued flow of demonstrators, while a cautious calm prevails in the fields of protests in the central and southern governorates, to demand political and economic reforms and to fight corruption and an independent head of government not affiliated with the political parties controlling the government.

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Baghdad, Samer Yusef, from Tahrir Square, said that a remarkable calm witnessed in the square with the arrival of protesters.

He added that the protests continued in the center and south, especially in Najaf and Nasiriyah.

In Nasiriyah (Dhi Qar Governorate Center), some protesters made a statement in Al-Haboubi Square, calling for an end to the strike, whether in schools or in state departments.

The statement came after clashes in Nasiriyah yesterday that led to the death of one person and the injury of another when the self-styled "anti-working teams" tried to force some official circles and universities.

Meanwhile, the popular crowd is preparing to organize a mass demonstration marking the forty-day anniversary of the killing of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of the popular crowd, and the former commander of the Iranian Quds Force Qassem Soleimani. The US embassy in Baghdad had warned its citizens on this occasion.

Engineer and Suleimani were killed by an American strike near Baghdad International Airport on the third of last month, ordered by President Donald Trump, which Baghdad considered a violation of its sovereignty.

Since the beginning of October 2019, Iraq has witnessed unprecedented protests interspersed with violence that has left more than 600 people dead, according to President Barham Salih and Amnesty International.