CF smashed the "independent government" with shoes, Al-Sadr's spokesperson

Shafaq News/ The spokesperson for Muqtada al-Sadr, Salah al-Obeidi, said that the Shiite Coordination Framework (CF) "smashed" the project of forming an independent government after naming Muhammad Shia al-Sudani for prime minister.

Al-Obaidi said in a statement, "The Frameworks' calls for dialogue are a new attempt to defraud, far from their suggestion to form the next government exclusively from independent figures."

He added, "The Framework forces started scrambling for positions, so they announced Al-Sudani as their candidate, a step smashed the project of the independent government with shoes and distributed the positions among them so that the candidate of the doomed (Nuri Al-Maliki) would win.

Tensions have worsened since an October election in which al-Sadr's movement emerged as the biggest bloc with 74 of parliament's 329 seats. 

After failing to overturn the result in the courts, the Iran-backed factions set about stymying al-Sadr's efforts to form a government that would include his Kurdish and Sunni allies but excludes groups he described as corrupt or loyal to external forces. 

Despite their diminished numbers in parliament, the Iran-aligned groups managed to frustrate al-Sadr by denying the two-thirds quorum needed to elect a Kurdish head of state - the first step towards forming a government.

Frustrated at the deadlock, Sadr instructed his lawmakers to quit parliament in June. The move ceded dozens of seats to the Coordination Framework, meaning it could try to form a government of its choosing, though this would risk al-Sadr's wrath.

Al-Sadr's rivals then floated a candidate, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, seen by al-Sadr's supporters as a Maliki loyalist. This step appears to have been the final straw for Sadr supporters, igniting the protests.

In a statement he issued earlier today, al-Sadr, the arch-foe of the Shiite Coordination Framework, instructed his followers to push for a complete overhaul of the political system, including a new constitution, and expel the country's elites whom he condemned as "corrupt."

In response, the Coordination Framework said it will defend "the legitimacy of the Iraqi state" against Muqtada al-Sadr's calls to "overthrow the state and constitution," calling for mass counter-demonstrations today.