Al-Sadr offers the Interior portfolio to Al-Fatah in exchange for disengaging the alliance with Al-Maliki

Shafaq News/ On Thursday, the Al-Fateh Alliance revealed that the leader of the Sadrist Movement, Muqtada Al-Sadr, offered the portfolio of the Ministry of Interior to Hadi Al-Ameri in exchange for disengaging the alliance with the Head of the State of Law coalition, Nouri Al-Maliki.

The leader of Al-Fateh, Ali Al-Fatlawi, told Shafaq News Agency, "The Framework refuses to leave the State of Law coalition leader alone in the opposition and not participate in the next government. His coalition has many parliamentary seats which entitled him to assume three Ministerial portfolios in the next government."

"Muqtada al-Sadr, presented to the leader of the Fatah Alliance Hadi al-Amiri the portfolio of the Interior Ministry, in exchange for entering into one alliance with the Sadrist bloc and forming a majority government without Al-Maliki."

Al-Fatlawi confirmed that this proposal was rejected, and Al-Amiri stressed that the Framework would ally as one unit. Otherwise, it will turn to the opposition or the boycott."

Earlier, A source in the Shiite Coordination Framework revealed that the Head of the "Fatah" alliance would submit a proposal to the Sadrist Movement leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, regarding the formation of the next Iraqi government.

The source told Shafaq News Agency that today, Al-Amiri would hand over Al-Sadr a proposal that the Framework parties participate in the "Majority" government with the Sadrist.

"The State of Law Coalition will also participate in the new government along with the Al-Fateh Alliance and the Sadrist, but its head, Nouri al-Maliki, will not assume any executive position in the next government, according to al-Sadr's condition."

Muqtada al-Sadr, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Takadum, and Azm alliances tried to include the Shiite Framework into the next government to no avail.

Al-Sadr rejects any participation for al-Maliki, (a prominent part of the Framework) in the national majority government.

Al-Sadr said in a televised speech, "I invited Hadi Al-Amiri, Qais Al-Khazali, and Faleh Al-Fayyad (leaders of the Framework) to participate in the majority government, on condition that Al-Maliki would not participate, but they refused."

He said he will ally with "whoever puts Iraq's national interests first." That is an indication, Iraqi officials and Western diplomats say, that he may exclude some Iran-backed Shiite blocs in favor of parties with cross-sectarian support.

The Sadrist bloc emerged as the clear winner with 73 seats in the 329-seat parliament. Takadum party, one of two main Sunni political groups and led by the speaker of the outgoing parliament Mohammed al-Halbousi, followed with 37 seats. Former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law bloc came third with 33 seats.

The Iran-backed al-Fatah Alliance won only 17 seats, compared with 45 in 2018.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) won 31 seats, while the Kurdistan Alliance, led by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), won only 17 seats.