BAGHDAD (AP) – Iraq’s acting prime minister called a meeting of senior political leaders and party representatives Wednesday to seek a way out of a months-long crisis amid a power struggle between rival Shiite blocs. But the party of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr did not attend the meeting.
The absence of al-Sadr’s bloc effectively undermined acting Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s effort to resolve the 10-month-old crisis.
Al-Sadr and his political rivals, the Iranian-backed Shiite…
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BAGHDAD (AP) – Iraq’s acting prime minister called a meeting of senior political leaders and party representatives Wednesday to seek a way out of a months-long crisis amid a power struggle between rival Shiite blocs. But the party of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr did not attend the meeting.
The absence of al-Sadr’s bloc effectively undermined acting Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s effort to resolve the 10-month-old crisis.
Al-Sadr and his political rivals, the Shiite groups backed by Iran, have been at odds since parliamentary elections last year. Al-Sadr won the most seats in the October vote, but failed to form a majority government.
His bloc later resigned from parliament and its supporters stormed the Parliament building in Baghdad last month. Al-Sadr has demanded the dissolution of Parliament and the holding of early elections.
Leaders of Iran-backed Shiite groups, Iraq’s Sunni and Kurdish political blocs and the head of the country’s High Judicial Council attended Wednesday’s meeting, as did the UN special representative, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
After the meeting, a statement from al-Kadhimi’s office said the discussions focused on possible solutions to the political crisis, prioritizing maintaining peace among Iraqis. Al-Sadr last Wednesday gave the judiciary a week to dissolve the legislature, to which he responded by saying he has no authority to dissolve parliament.
On Saturday, he asked his supporters to be prepared for mass protests across Iraq, but later postponed them indefinitely after Iran-backed groups called for similar demonstrations on the same day, saying he wanted to preserve peace and that ” Iraqi blood is priceless.” To him.
Al-Sadr’s Shiite rivals in the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Iran-backed parties, earlier said the parliament should meet to dissolve.
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