BAGHDAD (Middle East Eye) – Jordan’s decision to allow the local branch of the Ba’ath Party to renew political activities in the country has sparked outrage in neighboring Iraq.
The Independent Electoral Commission in Jordan has approved the participation of 27 new political parties, including the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, the Jordanian branch of the Pan-Arab nationalist movement associated with the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
In Iraq, the Islamic Dawa Party, one of the Ba’ath Party’s most vocal opponents and to which Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani belongs, branded the move as a “hostile and provocative act”.
“Iraqis were surprised, shocked, and outraged by the news of the Jordanian government’s permission for the [Saddam’s Ba’ath] party to engage in political activities,” the party said in a statement.
Others expressed their anger at Jordan on social media, while a protest was held in Baghdad on Sunday to denounce the decision.
The Iraqi parliament overwhelmingly voted in 2016 to officially ban the Ba’ath Party from any political activity in the country.
The party was previously banned by the U.S.-propelled Coalition Provisional Authority in 2003, which was put into power following the American invasion of Iraq and the removal of Saddam from power.
The Ba’ath party came to power in 1968 following a coup led by Saddam, who was the party’s assistant general secretary at the time.
The party and its former leader remain largely reviled across Iraq.