Sadrist officeholders will not work under al-Sudani's government: leading figure
Shafaq News/ Government officeholders affiliated with the Sadrist movement will resign if Mohammad Shiyaa al-Sudani's cabinet takes over, a leading figure said on Saturday.
"What the Leader's Minister, Mohammad Salih Al-Iraqi, said was clear," the leading figure who preferred to remain anonymous told Shafaq News Agency, "Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr rejects the participation of any Sadrist figure in the cabinet Mohammad Shiyaa al-Sudani is slated to form."
"Executive officials affiliated with the Sadrist movement under Mustafa al-Kadhimi's government shall resign once al-Sudani's government takes over. Otherwise, the Sadrist movement disowns them."
"The Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, the secretaries, special grades officeholders, and governors who belong to the Sadrist movement shall file resignation," he continued, "the resignation of all those I mentioned above is in the hands of al-Sadr."
Iraqi firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's movement on Saturday announced its refusal to join a new government being formed by prime minister-designate Mohammad Shiyaa al-Sudani.
The announcement came two days after lawmakers elected Abdullatif Rashid as Iraq's new president, and he swiftly named Sudani as prime minister in a bid to end a year of political gridlock since October 2021 elections.
"We stress our firm and clear refusal for any of our affiliates to participate... in this government formation," Mohammed Saleh al-Iraqi, a close associate of al-Sadr, said in a statement posted on Twitter.
The 52-year-old Shiite former minister Sudani has the backing of al-Sadr's Iran-backed rivals, the Coordination Framework, which controls 138 out of 329 seats in the Iraqi legislature.
In June, al-Sadr had ordered the 73 lawmakers in his bloc to resign, leaving parliament in the hands of the Framework, which includes representatives of the former paramilitary al-Hashd al-Shaabi(Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF).
In his statement Saturday, Iraqi charged that the upcoming government has a "clear subordination to militias" and would "not meet the (Iraqi) people's aspirations".
He said the Sadrist movement refused to take part in any government led by Sudani "or any other candidate from among the old faces or those affiliated with the corrupt".
"Anyone who joins their ministries does not represent us... rather, we disavow them," Iraqi said.
Snap elections were held last year following nationwide protests that erupted in October 2019 to decry endemic corruption, decaying infrastructure and the absence of services and jobs for youth.
Sadr, who has the ability to mobilise tens of thousands of his supporters with a single tweet, has repeatedly demanded early elections, while the Coordination Framework wants a new government in place before any polls are held.
Tensions between the two rival Shiite camps boiled over on August 29 when more than 30 Sadr supporters were killed in clashes with Iran-backed factions and the army in Baghdad's Green Zone, which houses government buildings and diplomatic missions.
