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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.<\/p>\n
The absence of al-Sadr’s bloc effectively undermined acting Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s effort to resolve the 10-month-old crisis. <\/p>\n
Al-Sadr and his political rivals, the Iranian-backed Shiite\u2026<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
The absence of al-Sadr’s bloc effectively undermined acting Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s effort to resolve the 10-month-old crisis. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Al-Sadr’s Shiite rivals in the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Iran-backed parties, earlier said the parliament should meet to dissolve. <\/p>\n
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