SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Sadrist Movement’s parliamentary bloc announced on Saturday it would boycott the parliament’s session set for the election of the Iraqi president.
The Council of Representatives, which re-elected Mohammed al-Halbousi as its speaker, has set February 7 as a date to hold a session to elect a new president for the country.
Head of the movement’s bloc Hassan al-Azari said the faction would not attend the session of parliament on Monday, following an order by Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
“By order of the leader of the Sadrist Movement, it was also decided to freeze negotiations with the political blocs regarding the formation of the government,” Azari said in a press conference.
The announcement came one day after Sadr called on the lawmakers not to vote for candidates if they don’t meet presidential requirements.
“If the candidate of our ally Kurdistan Democratic Party [KDP] or any other candidate for the position of the Republic’s president doesn’t meet all the requirements, I call on the reform representatives not to vote from him,” Sadr said in a tweet.
“We are advocates of reform, not advocates of authority and rule,” he added.
Sadr’s tweet came after Iraqis protested in Baghdad in the past days against the nomination of Hashyar Zebari as a candidate for the Iraqi presidency due to corruption allegations against him.
In 2016, Iraqi parliament sacked Zebari from his post as finance minister over alleged corruptions and misuse of public funds. Zebari denied the accusations.
Zebari, who also served as Iraq’s foreign minister for more than a decade, lost a no-confidence vote by 158 to 77.
On January 31, the Iraqi parliament announced names of 25 candidates including president Barham Salih and Zebari for the country’s presidency.
Salih, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) candidate, officially announced his candidacy for the second term of the presidency on Tuesday, saying he had proposed projects to eliminate corruption and to revive the country and its resources.
“The president of the Republic must be the president of all Iraqis,” Salih said in a televised speech. “I am committed to supporting national people and I won’t allow any pressure that disrespects the position of president.”
Under an unofficial agreement dating back to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s presidency — a largely ceremonial role — is held by a Kurd, while the prime minister is Shia and the parliament speaker is Sunni.
*This story was updated at 11:41 p.m. EBL time
