Sadrist Movement Says Sadr's Supporters Will Not Be Part Of New Iraqi Government

CAIRO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2022) The supporters of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr will not be part of the new Iraqi government, Saleh Muhammad Al-Iraqi said on Saturday.

On Thursday, the Iraqi parliament by a majority vote elected 78-year-old Abdul Latif Rashid as the country's new president. Newly elected Rashid instructed Mohammed Sudani, whose nomination for the post of prime minister sparked protests in July, to form a government.

"We confirm our categorical, clear and unequivocal rejection of the participation of any of our members... in this government headed by the current candidate or other old or corruption-related persons," Al-Iraqi was quoted as saying by the Iraqi broadcaster Alsumaria.

Iraq has been facing political deadlock since the parliamentary elections of October 2021. The political bloc of Sadr won the elections but reverted to the opposition in May and stepped down in June after several unsuccessful attempts to form a government.

Sadr's supporters resumed protests in Baghdad in late July, breaking into the parliament building and refusing to leave it. The protests were triggered by the nomination of Sudani for the post of prime minister. In late August, Sadr called on his supporters to leave the government's "Green Zone" in the center of Baghdad and stop their armed confrontation with the security forces and the Shiite militias that joined them.

On October 1, demonstrators in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad decided to halt massive anti-government protests in the city center, giving the authorities until October 25 to find a way out of the political crisis. They threatened to intensify their protests otherwise and demanded a transitional government be formed under the auspices of the UN.