Iraq’s Sadr Urges MPs Not to Reject New Government
NAJAF (Dispatches) – Influential cleric Moqtada Sadr returned to Iraq Saturday and asked lawmakers to back the government of prime minister-designate Mohammad Allawi in a confidence vote.
The Shia cleric with a following in Iraq has thrown his weight behind the appointment of Allawi.
The onetime anti-U.S. militia leader’s supporters form the largest bloc in parliament. He came back to whip up support for Allawi’s government line-up.
As he visited the mausoleum of Imam Ali in Najaf, the Shia shrine city where he resides, Sadr demanded that parliament approve the line-up in the coming days.
"If the session does not take place this week, or if lawmakers don’t (back) a transparent Iraqi cabinet in a vote... then this will require a demonstration of a million people,” he tweeted.
"Sit-ins around the Green Zone (where parliament is located) will have to be used to exert pressure,” he said.
Allawi has called for a vote of confidence to be held on Monday and has been backed by his predecessor Adel Abdel Mahdi, who bowed out as prime minister in December in the face of protests.
But the constitutional position is unclear.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi says that the anticipated extraordinary session to vote on the lineup of the cabinet of Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi has not been decided yet.
"The date of the extraordinary session cannot be determined,” al-Halbousi said, adding "until now, the ministerial program and the names of ... the cabinet have not reached the parliament.”
Al-Halbousi’s statement contradicted the statement made on Friday by Deputy Speaker Hassan al-Kaabi, in which he said that the parliament is obligated to hold an extraordinary session next Monday to give confidence to the new government.
The Shia cleric with a following in Iraq has thrown his weight behind the appointment of Allawi.
The onetime anti-U.S. militia leader’s supporters form the largest bloc in parliament. He came back to whip up support for Allawi’s government line-up.
As he visited the mausoleum of Imam Ali in Najaf, the Shia shrine city where he resides, Sadr demanded that parliament approve the line-up in the coming days.
"If the session does not take place this week, or if lawmakers don’t (back) a transparent Iraqi cabinet in a vote... then this will require a demonstration of a million people,” he tweeted.
"Sit-ins around the Green Zone (where parliament is located) will have to be used to exert pressure,” he said.
Allawi has called for a vote of confidence to be held on Monday and has been backed by his predecessor Adel Abdel Mahdi, who bowed out as prime minister in December in the face of protests.
But the constitutional position is unclear.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi says that the anticipated extraordinary session to vote on the lineup of the cabinet of Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi has not been decided yet.
"The date of the extraordinary session cannot be determined,” al-Halbousi said, adding "until now, the ministerial program and the names of ... the cabinet have not reached the parliament.”
Al-Halbousi’s statement contradicted the statement made on Friday by Deputy Speaker Hassan al-Kaabi, in which he said that the parliament is obligated to hold an extraordinary session next Monday to give confidence to the new government.