According to the media, Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi warned his countrymen that the political crisis in the country is threatening security achievements made in past years. While addressing a ceremony to commemorate the Islamic Day of Combatting Violence against Women, Al-Kadhimi said the ongoing political crisis threatens the national stability and all political parties should make concessions for the interests of Iraq and Iraqis.
The Republic of Iraq is confronting political chaos, economic instability, and a constitutional crisis, after the parliamentary election in the oil-rich Arab nation in October last year. The current crisis erupted when the parliamentary election ended up in a divided parliament with no clear majority of any political bloc, although the Sadrist Movement emerged as the biggest parliamentary group, but it was unable to form a government independently. Iraqi political parties had been in negotiations over the past nine months to elect a head of the state but failed to reach a solution. Due to a months-long deadlock in the formation of the new government, Iraq could not approve an annual budget for the current fiscal year.
Traditionally, Iraq’s Presidency had been enjoyed by the ethnic Kurd political parties while the majority Shitiie parity elects the country’s Prime Minister solely or through a coalition of other Shiite groups as applicable. Interestingly, both the Shiite blocs, the Sadrist Movement, and Iran backed the Coordination Framework Alliance (CFA) could not achieve consensus on a candidate for the slot of Prime Minister over the past nine months, and influential Shia leader Moqtada Al-Sadr called for a fresh election and ordered this party’s Parliamentarians to resign from their seats. Former Supreme Commander of Iraqi militant group Mehdi Militia and top leader of the largest political bloc has plunged the already politically unstable and economically weak Iraq into another upheaval through the initiation of a protest for a fresh election. Earlier, the members of the Sadrist Movement twice invaded the Iraqi Parliament and also attacked Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council and top court in a bid to get a verdict regarding a fresh election in the country.
The ongoing political ruckus had stalled the constitutional process in the country and former Premier Mustafa Al-Kadhimi will continue his job until the political elite agreed on the name of his successor. The caretaker setup is continuously working to find a solution to the issue, while Prime Minister Al-Kadhimi held a meeting of senior political leaders and party representatives last week to urge them to stop fighting because the instability if started once will not pause for years.
In fact, the selfish politics of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr and his Iran-backed rival group had caused the worst political crisis since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The caretaker Prime Minister has timely sensitized the Iraqi political elite that their egoistic doctrines and self-centered political maneuvers are ruining the Iraqi economy and hard-earned successes of the Iraqi government, military, and the people against their numerous enemies including ISIS, American Hawks, Jewish Expansionism, and other regional belligerents who have vested interests in Iraq’s internal chaos and instability. Hence, the so-called well-wishers of the Iraqi people must pause their antagonism if they have a genuine interest in the peace and stability of the country and the well-being of the people of Iraq, otherwise, a gloomy future would be the fate of their future generations.
