The country is reeling due to political tensions between the various centers of power and blocs

Electing a new president for Iraq and assigning Al-Sudani to form the government.. Will it end the crisis?

• Al-Sadr's supporters are protesting against the selection of Al-Sudani as prime minister.

  AFP

• Abdul Latif Rashid during his inauguration ceremony as President of Iraq.

  AFP

• Al-Sudani bears responsibility amid a torrent of problems pressing on Iraq.

  AFP

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The election of Abdul Latif Rashid as president of Iraq opened a new chapter in the political developments taking place in the country, amid the aspirations of his sons for an era to change their reality for the better, and the concerned parties are anticipating what this step will result in, especially since it removed the obstacle to naming the prime minister.

For a year since the early parliamentary elections in Iraq, the country has been reeling, due to political tensions between the centers of power and the various blocs. It did not stop at the limits of decisions taken in meetings with the aim of disrupting or blocking the plans of the other camp. Rather, it often witnessed the bullying of the street and the mobilization of supporters. And the supporters, and evolved into clashes with which blood spilled.

The October 13th session witnessed a breakthrough after a political blockage punctuated by several attempts to elect the new president of Iraq, due to Kurdish-Kurdish differences over the nomination of the candidate for this position, and other accommodations by the influential, especially since according to the Iraqi political system the president must be Kurdish, who is Whoever nominates the prime minister is, of course, a Shiite, while the speaker of parliament is a Sunni.

The election of the new Iraqi president came after a second round of secret voting in Parliament, in which he competed with the outgoing president, Barham Salih, where Rashid received 162 votes, compared to 99 for Barham Salih, while eight papers were considered null.

Abdul Latif Rashid (78 years) is the fifth president of Iraq since 2003, and the fourth affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Rashid was one of the members of the Kurdish delegations abroad, which sought to overthrow the late President Saddam Hussein.

He returned to Iraq after the US invasion and overthrow of the ruling regime, to take the position of Minister of Water Resources (2003 - 2010).

He was close to the late Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, in light of the existence of an intermarriage relationship between them.

Many Iraqis welcomed his election as president, hoping that Iraq would get rid of the longest period of political vacuum since the 2005 elections, and put an end to political rivalries within the Shiite house between the Sadrist movement and its opponents within the Iranian-backed coordination framework, which has disrupted the formation of the government over the past months. .

The British Financial Times shed light on Rashid's assignment, immediately after the announcement of his victory, to Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani, to form a government, noting that he has 30 days as the constitutional deadline to announce his government formation.

The newspaper focused on the fact that resolving the political debate between the Sadrist movement and the coordination framework for the benefit of the latter camp, affiliated with Iran, is a "setback" for the United States.

The newspaper stated that Al-Sudani’s supporters, a former minister and close to former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the influential figure in the coordination framework, believe that his record qualifies him to gather the various Iraqi components under the banner of change, and to deal with chronic problems in the country such as fighting corruption and rehabilitating infrastructure.

However, others look with anticipation, considering that his candidacy is a "nominal" breakthrough only, according to the newspaper, which reviewed the foundations on which the Iraqi regime is based, noting the difficulty of its task in distributing government positions among the various spectrums.

"Just because they were able to bring together Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders to form a government, this does not address the deep political turmoil in the country," said Renad Mansour, a researcher at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), as saying.

It does not address the deep sense of alienation of the Iraqi people from the political elite.

Mansour added: "We still see the same personalities who have dominated the political scene since 2003, who stifled reform and allowed political corruption that harms Iraqis every day."

For its part, the American newspaper, Washington Post, reported that the developments in the Iraqi political arena, last Thursday, left Muqtada al-Sadr "a dwindling figure."

The newspaper quoted Iraqi political analyst Muhammad Jassim from Baghdad as saying: "I think what happened today (Thursday) is a severe blow to Muqtada al-Sadr politically... With the victory of the coordinating framework over Muqtada al-Sadr, the way is completely paved for them to form a government."

Jassim also described what happened as "a victory for Iran and a setback for American interests in the region... The Iranian-backed coordinating framework will do everything in its power to erase any American presence in the country, and will put obstacles in the way of any economic cooperation with the United States, all for Iran's interest."

Meanwhile, Al-Sudani, the prime minister-designate, pledged to present the cabinet formation as soon as possible.

He said in a tweet on "Twitter": "I promise the Iraqis that I will live up to their expectations, by presenting the cabinet formation as soon as possible, and to form a strong government, able to build the country, serve the citizens, maintain security and stability, and build balanced international relations."

Observers believe that Al-Sudani has a difficult task ahead of him, and they attributed this to the quotas, which they described as the cause of all the problems that Iraq suffers from.

In this context, the position expressed by the Secretary-General of the National Civil Movement in Iraq, Shorouq Al-Abayji, in statements to Alsumaria satellite channel, during which she considered that "the distorted political process will not provide anything for the country."

Al-Abayji added: "There is no hope for changing the reality, and the Iraqi people have expressed their anger and rejection, but the political class is not aware of what the people are suffering, and there is a gap. They live in a world isolated from the suffering of the people."

And she continued: "After the last elections, there was an attempt to form a political majority, which did not succeed because the political forces are committed to quotas, and the coordinating framework wants the Sadrist movement to participate in the next government to restore quotas and the principle of dividing the cake."

Amid all these analyzes, many are awaiting the reaction of the Sadrist movement, and how things will go in the coming days.

• Observers believe that Al-Sudani has a difficult task ahead of him, and they attributed this to the quota system, which they described as the cause of all the problems that Iraq suffers from.

• Resolving the political debate between the Sadrist movement and the coordination framework in the interest of the latter camp, which is affiliated with Iran, is considered a "setback" for the United States.

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