- Moqtada al-Sadr 7/14
Muqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shiite cleric and political leader, issued a statement urging the prime minister’s coalition to withdraw its backing for his bid for a third term and to pick another candidate.
In the statement posted on his website late on Saturday, the cleric blamed the prime minister for the current security and political crisis. “It is necessary to demonstrate the national and paternal spirit by aiming for a higher, wider goal from individuals and blocs and by that I mean changing the candidates”, he said.
The first inaugural session of the Iraqi parliament broke down last week amid divisions among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish MPs. They failed to pick Iraq’s new leaders, and the session was adjourned by acting speaking Mahdi Hafidh. The 328-seat chamber has the task of choosing a new president as well as a prime minister.
Maliki’s State of Law coalition won the greatest number of votes in elections at the end of April, which should have assured him a third four-year term in office. However, the seizure of Iraq’s second city of Mosul last month by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) prompted pressure for the prime minister, seen as increasingly inflexible in the face of the crisis, to withdraw.
The United Nations estimates that 2,417 people were killed in Iraq in June and 2,287 injured, the highest monthly casualty toll since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Sadr said he was still convinced a new candidate should be drawn from the State of Law coalition, “because it is the biggest bloc within the National Alliance,” a reference to an alliance that groups the main Shiite parties.
Among other politicians calling for Maliki to step down is Iyad Allawi, a former prime minister who said a third term could lead to the division of Iraq. Abroad, Washington has signaled it would like to see Maliki make way for another candidate and former British prime minister Tony Blair has also urged him to quit.
Blair, who supported the 2003 invasion, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that a change of government was needed. “It would be much easier for the United States and others if there was in Iraq a government which was genuinely inclusive,” he said.
Massoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), has also urged Maliki to step aside and has meanwhile announced a referendum on Kurdish independence in the light of the deteriorating situation.
The parliament in Baghdad must also select a national president to replace the outgoing Jalal Talebani, a Kurd. The most likely Kurdish nominee for the post is Barham Salih, the former KRG prime minister.
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