Shafaq News – Najaf

Leader of the Patriotic Shiite Movement (PSM), Muqtada al-Sadr, on Thursday distanced his movement from reports alleging plans to storm polling centers, burn ballot boxes, and destabilize security on the day of Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary elections.

Responding to a document shared by one of his supporters regarding those claims, al-Sadr said, “Anyone who does that is not one of us," describing the reports as “lies spread by the corrupt, who intend to carry out such acts themselves and then blame us. We are innocent of that.”

Al-Sadr, who announced his withdrawal from the 2025 elections, said earlier that his movement would not take part in any process “tainted by corruption” or form alliances with what he called “corrupt forces.”

Read more: Al-Sadr shockwave: New uncertainty ahead of Iraq’s parliamentary poll

The influential leader enjoys wide popular support in Iraq, particularly among urban Shiite communities. In the 2021 parliamentary elections, his bloc won 73 of the 329 seats, making it the largest in parliament before he later ordered his lawmakers to resign, triggering a political crisis that delayed government formation for more than a year.

According to Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission, about 21.4 million Iraqis are eligible to vote in the November 2025 elections.