Why are Sunni leaders in Iraq jostling for leadership?

Sunni political forces in Iraq continue to divide among themselves, and their leaders are in a state of continuous struggle for leadership, at a time when the people of their provinces are still living the two things, from the displacement of more than 5 years and the destruction of their cities and their lack of services, as a result of the military operations that it witnessed against ISIS Islamic.

Perhaps the latest manifestation of this division is the announcement by the "Arab Project" party at the end of last month that it disavowed the statement of the Iraqi Parliamentary Front headed by Osama Najafi.

The Front headed by al-Nujaifi issued a statement on October 25, saying that its leadership - consisting of the Salvation and Development Front, the Arab Project Bloc, the National Mass Bloc, the Islamic Party and the Independent Iraqi Bloc - announces the formation of a new parliamentary front that includes 35 members of Sunni political forces, in a move It aims - according to the announcement - to unify Sunni positions.

The Sunni forces in the current Iraqi parliament occupy 73 seats out of 329, distributed among several political blocs, before the formation of the National Axis Alliance in August 2018, which is the largest gathering of the Sunnis with 50 parliamentary seats, and that before it split later due to internal disputes into two alliances. They are the Iraqi forces led by Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi, and the National Ax, led by Khamis al-Khanjar.

Al-Halbousi is being accused by leaders of various parties of seeking to be alone with the leadership of Sunnis in Iraq (Al-Halbousi Media Office)

The Sunni house is currently witnessing a new division with the formation of a parliamentary front of 35 deputies, comprising 5 active forces with a joint leadership of the leaders of the blocs affiliated under it, with the aim of finding solutions to their governorates and the arbitrary measures they suffer, and the issue of the enforced disappearance of thousands of its sons, and in return, observers see it only early efforts For electoral purposes and authoritarian aspirations targeting the growing influence of Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi.

The Sunni street holds its politicians responsible for the lack of representation and the failure to find effective solutions to their pending issues, due to the dispersal of these politicians and their preoccupation with attempts to exclusivity in the decision and political gains, in addition to the exclusionary policies practiced against their symbols during the era of former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, which led to the rise of emerging leaderships that did not receive a public turnout. As in the past, especially after striking the societal fabric in their governorates due to what it was subjected to with the control of the Islamic State, and the subsequent Shiite factions' control, which led to a decline in their representation in parliament compared to the previous rounds, which amounted to about 90 seats.

Al-Jarba believes that the Presidency of the Council of Representatives is always the one that raises problems among the Sunni forces (Al-Jazeera Net)

A patriarchal position and

in this regard, the head of the Arab Project bloc, MP Ahmad al-Jarba, told Al-Jazeera Net that political divisions are not emerging from the moment nor are they specific to the Sunni forces, as pluralism is present even at the level of the rest of the parties, but the lack of unification of the Sunni ranks usually leads to everyone who assumes the presidency of the Council Representatives are the supreme authority for Sunnis.

He adds that as long as everyone who takes over the presidency of Parliament tries to uniqueness in the decision and monopolize the influence of the position in his favor, excluding the remaining leaders and competencies, and considering that this role has grown with the current speaker of Parliament, Muhammad al-Halbousi, this cannot be allowed.

He pointed out that whoever is in this position must exercise the patriarchal role towards the rest of the powers and be inclusive of them, which in turn will be reflected in the stability of the political and service decision.

Al-Jarba explained that the situation in which the Sunni forces are experiencing by forming a new parliamentary front at the present time aims to achieve the right to political decision, and to press for the reconstruction of the provinces that were previously in the grip of the Islamic State, and to decide on the fate of their forcibly disappeared children and the return of the displaced, and it was not ruled out that it is one of their priorities. Dismissal of the Speaker of Parliament, if he continues to try to isolate himself and does not correct his course.

Al-Mafraji confirms that Sunni conflicts have affected public participation in the elections (Al-Jazeera Net)

Conflicts and their implications:

The new Iraqi front deputy, Khaled Al-Mafraji, told Al-Jazeera Net that the reflection of the new political movement on the reality of the devastated provinces and what they need is a slight reflection, because the provinces ’needs are linked to their local governments.

He adds that the persistence of Sunni forces on the approach of the previous leadership struggle has negatively affected the Sunni political performance and the public’s opinion, prompting many to abstain from the elections, pointing out that the present time is not the time to form new fronts for electoral goals, and therefore the goal of the new movement is to restore Things are just right.

Al-Mafraji believes that with this movement, there are two main Sunni forces, the Alliance of Iraqi Forces and the Iraqi Front, which represent a pressure factor on all parties to bring about a real balance, especially with the presence of a leading figure at the head of the coalition, such as Osama al-Nujaifi.

Al-Bakri believes that the recent political movement of Sunni representatives aims to overthrow Al-Halbousi (Al-Jazeera Net)

Bedouinism predominates the attributes of leadership,

and for his part, political science professor Yassin al-Bakri says - in connection with Al-Jazeera Net - that the political division is natural, but the difference is that the other components agree on higher federal issues. As for the Sunnis, their level of division is multiple, and they lack a unified position on issues that concern the interests of Their component at the federal level, and this greatly affected the issues of displaced persons and the inability to return them.

He believes that “the unity of leaderships is not imagined as a general case that delves into the Sunni component for historical reasons, and as a result of the nature of the personality closest to the nomadic spirit in the matter of leadership.” This can be seen by the expansion of Al-Halbousi and his attempt to impose himself as a leader, which produced resistance forces that were formed to undermine him or limit his expansion.

Al-Bakri continued in his speech that, "At the same time, we notice the buoyancy of leadership and competition for the new formation, as Khamis al-Khanjar refused to be a leader, which forced him to accept the collective leadership formula, a formula that is closer to fragmentation than producing a unified position," pointing out that the formation agenda The new is restricted to the ouster of Al-Halbousi.