Today, Wednesday, the Iraqi parliament failed to hold a session to elect the country's president, after it was not possible to complete the quorum, to hold the session.

As a result, the leader of the Sadrist movement confirmed his refusal to invite the coordination framework to agree on choosing a president for the country and forming a new government.

The statement of the Iraqi Parliament's media department stated that Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi opened the work of the sixth session of the fifth electoral cycle of the first legislative year.

Dozens of deputies from different political blocs boycotted the parliament session dedicated to electing the president of the country, most notably the Coordination Framework Alliance (most Shiite forces except for the Sadrist movement). At least out of 329.

And last Saturday, the Iraqi parliament failed to hold a session to elect the country's president, due to the lack of a quorum as well.

Six months after the early parliamentary elections last October, Iraq is still without a new president, and therefore without a new prime minister who assumes the executive authority.

After the failure of today's session, Wednesday, Parliament will have until the sixth of next April to elect a president, according to a decision of the Federal Court, the highest judicial authority in the country.

Forty candidates are competing for the position of President of Iraq, most notably the current president, Barham Salih, the candidate of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party candidate, Reber Ahmed.

Saleh enjoys the support of the coordination framework, while Ahmed receives the support of the Alliance to Save a Homeland (175 seats), which is composed of prominent Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish forces in the country.

According to the constitutional custom in Iraq since 2005, the Kurds hold the presidency of the country, the Sunnis the head of parliament, and the Shiites the head of the government.

The election of a new president for the country is an indispensable step to move forward in forming the next government.

pic.twitter.com/l4g4qhLPgr

— Muqtada al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Sadr (@Mu_AlSadr) March 30, 2022

quotas

After the failure of the parliament session, the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, said - in a tweet on Twitter - "There is no good in a consensus government," considering that consensus means "the end of Iraq, and we reject it in all its forms," ​​confirming him not to go to the option of compatibility with other forces. To choose a president and a prime minister.

He added, "What you call a political blockage is easier than agreeing with you and better than sharing the cake with you. There is no good in a consensus government."

He continued, "How will you agree with the blocs while you are arguing against all the components and all the partners you are trying to win over to your camp?"

He concluded his tweet by addressing the Iraqi people by saying, "I will not bring you back to your previous tragedies, and this is a false promise. The country will not be subject to dependency, occupation, normalization and quotas...and the people will never bow to them."

#Maliki pic.twitter.com/Bm2a7Ztyee

— Nouri Al-Maliki (@nourialmalikiiq) March 30, 2022

frame invitation

Al-Sadr's tweet apparently came in response to a call from the coordination framework for dialogue and understanding to choose a president and form the next government.

The coordinating framework called on its rival, the "Save a Homeland" coalition, for understanding and dialogue, to resolve outstanding problems regarding the election of a president and the formation of a new government.

This came in statements by Hadi Al-Amiri - a leader in the Coordination Framework Alliance - to reporters after a meeting in his office in Baghdad for the forces boycotting the parliament session.

The coordinating framework includes the State of Law coalition, the State Forces Alliance, the Victory Alliance, the Al-Fateh Alliance (the Popular Mobilization Factions, some of which are close to Iran), the Ataa Movement, and the Virtue Party.

The "Save the Homeland" coalition includes the Sadrist bloc, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and the Sovereignty Coalition (the Sunni alliance led by Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi).

Al-Amiri said, "We believe that the path of breaking wills and excluding other parties will not lead to the stability of Iraq. Our words to the political forces, especially the Triple Alliance, are that our hearts are open to finding a solution to get out of the political blockage."

guarantor third

In a related context, after the failure of the parliament session, the leader of the coordination framework, former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, tweeted, saying that the coordination framework alliance and its allies confirmed the strength of the guarantor third, which was proven today by preventing a session considered dangerous by the framework.

Al-Maliki added, "We have prepared an initiative paper to find a solution to the suffocation situation, after it was confirmed that the tripartite alliance (Save a Homeland) did not come forward with an initiative to find realistic solutions that guarantee the safety of the political process from collapse."

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— Representative Hussein Mardan (@hussienmardan) March 30, 2022

Dissolution of Parliament

Members of the House of Representatives ruled out the possibility of dissolving it and achieving two-thirds by one of the two competing alliances.

A member of the "Azm Alliance" - allied with the Shiite coordination framework - Ahmed al-Jubouri said on his Twitter account that "threatening to dissolve parliament will not solve the crisis, and in light of the regional elections law brought by the Triple Alliance, the next parliament will be like the current one with the possibility of diminishing seats in the Triple Alliance." ".

Hussein Mardan, a deputy from the coordination framework, said, "Parliament can only be dissolved through a vote of two-thirds of the parliament, i.e. 220 deputies. If this number existed, they would have been able to achieve a quorum and elect the president of the republic."

For his part, former MP Bashar al-Kiki said, "If the lack of a quorum for the presidential election session is considered a failure of the majority, then even thinking about a consensual government will undoubtedly fail."

He added, "Dissolving Parliament for itself and heading towards early elections is the appropriate democratic option for this stage."