Shiite cleric calls for massive rally, parliament ready to convene

A prominent Iraqi Shiite cleric on Monday called for a massive rally to keep pressuring the MPs to end their differences, hours after a parliament decision to vote on a reshuffle as part of a comprehensive reform.

"Some political parties do not want the parliament to achieve quorum to prevent the vote on the popularly required reform, therefore, your rally on Monday will terrify them and will force them to convene and vote," Moqtada al-Sadr said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, the parliament Speaker Salim al-Jubouri said in a statement that "the political crisis in the parliament will end soon and the parliament will be ready in the coming days to vote on the candidates for the cabinet."

Three days ago, al-Sadr urged his followers within a group of legislators participating in a sit-in protest inside the parliament building to end their protest, and to pave the way for political bickering to enable the parliament to convene and vote on a new cabinet reshuffle.

In an address on national television on Wednesday, Sadr also demanded a "freeze" on his loyal al-Ahrar party in parliament "until a voting session is held to determine the new cabinet of independent technocrats and government posts."

The al-Ahrar party holds 34 of the parliament's 328 seats, in addition to three cabinet posts, all of who previously resigned from their posts.

Observers believe Sadr's latest moves both on Wednesday and Saturday may be a significant step towards ending legislators' division, and will ease the political tension and discord which has driven the country's political process to a standstill.

On Wednesday, al-Jubouri suspended the parliament sessions until further notice after disagreements erupted when lawmakers convened in a session to discuss whether to sack the speaker and his two deputies before voting on a new parliament leader.

A critical divide was apparent in parliament on April 14 as the parliament held an emergency session, which included dozens of dissenting legislators. The parliament speaker al-Jubouri was relieved of his duties, and the eldest legislator, Adnan al-Janabi, was chosen instead as interim parliament speaker.

The decision was rejected by the legislators' other camps, who argued that the session was unconstitutional due to the insufficient required quorum.

Discord intensified between the parliament presidency panel and the legislators protesting inside the parliament.

The protesting legislators criticized al-Jubouri for the repeated delay of the proposed vote on the new cabinet candidates according to the reforms proposed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Legislators from various parties demanded an end to the quota system, which was created following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq to control and divide Iraq's resources between political parties representing Iraq's ethnic and sectarian factions.

Recently, Sadr, with thousands of his followers gathering in Baghdad, demanded that Abadi achieve substantial reforms, including a government reshuffle, better services and end of corruption.

Iraqis also want the reforms to address the country's economic crisis amid a sharp drop in global oil prices, as security forces fight against the Islamic State militants in the north and west of Iraq.

Source: XINHUA