Political turmoil is heightening in Iraq as protesters have stormed parliament for the second time in one week.
The massive public unrest of hundreds of protesters have forced their way through a high security zone in Baghdad, the capital, and broke into Iraq’s parliament building. The incident is a dissent towards former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s nomination of a pro-Iran politician to be Iraq’s new Prime Minister.
Nouri al-Maliki is the head of the Coordination Framework Alliance, a group led by Shiite Iran-backed parties. The alliance announced on Monday, July 25th, Mohammed al-Sudani, a former labor and social affairs minister as its candidate for the premier’s seat.
Protesters were unleashed by the influential populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who serves as the public’s choice of PM. Al-Sadr is a powerful force in Iraq’s restless political scene with a nationalist, anti-Iran agenda.
The ongoing political unrest in Iraq has been exacerbated since October, when the country failed to establish a new government after national elections were held in that month. The ten month period is the longest the country has experienced since the US invasion of 2003 that introduced a new political order in the nation. The fragile state has been at a stalemate henceforth, while the Iran-based Coordination Framework Alliance has been attempting to infiltrate the already chaotic political scene of Iraq, and disturb the political balance the country maintains with the US.
Muqtada al-Sadr’s alliance won the most seats in parliament in the October elections, however, selecting a president proved unsuccessful due to political quarrels. Without a president, parliament was unable to elect a Prime Minister. Negotiations degenerated, al-Sadr withdrew his bloc from parliament and eliminated himself from the talks of forming a new government.
Al-Sadr and his bloc’s exit gave al-Maliki’s Iran-backed alliance the majority number and the opportunity to replace al-Sadr’s members of parliament. An illegal and provocative move on their part.
With the majority numbers in parliament, al-Maliki’s alliance announced on Monday, July 25th that Mohammed al-Sudani is their candidate for the Prime Minister’s seat. Al-Sadr’s supporters believe al-Sudani would be a puppet Prime Minister if elected, for al-Maliki to exert control over the new government.
Al-Sadr quickly mobilized his supporters upon al-Maliki’s announcement and protests have persisted ever since. No casualties have been reported as riot police refrained from intervening, and there has been little violence.
Muqtada al-Sadr has called for dissidents to evacuate parliament, though protests can persist. Iraqis on the other hand are reluctant to exit the building because they’re not protesting for al-Sadr, they’re fighting for a complete overhaul of Iraq’s political system.