Alwaght- The Iraqi political scene has undergone a deadlock in administration after the pro-Sadrist Movement protestors stormed the country’s parliament building on April 30.
Following the incident, the Iraqi parliament has suspended its sessions, as the Kurdish as well as the Sunni members of the parliament have lashed out at the incursion made by the pro-Sadrist Movement demonstrators. These were just the initial consequences of the incident.
The Kurdish and Sunni lawmakers argued that the offenders were transferred to the parliament hall, where the sessions were normally held, by military vehicles belonging to the parliament security guards. They also alleged that the security guards themselves opened the doors of the hall of sessions to the demonstrators, and made no move in the face of the protestors to protect the lawmakers at the building.
The event gave rise to a new crisis in the Iraqi politics, and more than ever, the analysts suggest, brought to surface the rule of the country by emergency conditions.
A couple of more repercussions have followed the incident. The Iraqi President Fuad Masum has disparaged the storming of the parliament, asking the protestors to show respect to the law in order to keep the country stable politically. Moreover, Nouri al-Maliki, the country’s former prime minister, has warned that the conditions of the country were too dangerous as a result of “forced appointment” of ministers and incursion on the parliament. The heads of the three governing bodies of the country namely the government, parliament and judicature, held an emergency meeting in Baghdad a day after the incident to discuss the latest developments. Even more, the Kurdistan region’s lawmakers have quickly returned to the Kurdish region in protest of the storming. The consequences of the event also touched Baghdad’s high profile diplomatic district as the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has dismissed the chief of security team responsible for protection of the Green Zone. These were the most significant aftermaths of the incursion on the parliament.
The suspension of the parliamentary sessions has caused a critical situation in the country, seen to be posing a threat to the national unity of Iraq more than any earlier time. The storming of the parliament has laid bare the rifts between Iraq’s political parties. The parliament attack even uncovered the serious political divisions between the Shiite factions inside the Iraqi parliament.
Despite the critical circumstances overshadowing the political scene of Iraq, the different Iraqi political sides have tried to de-escalate the tension and reach an accord to resume the sessions of the country’s legislative body to continue the reform movement that already started.
Meeting the sitting-in MPs who formed the “Reform Front”, the Iraqi President Masum has called on them to approve of returning to the parliament and resuming the parliamentary meetings all to pave the way for the reforms to go ahead in the country.
Abdel Salam al-Maliki, a member of Reform Front, has argued that in the first place it was PM al-Abadi to blame for his wrong policies which resulted in the recent events, the political limbo and also the close-down of the parliament.
“The State of Law Coalition- a large and strong parliamentary coalition formed in 2009 by Nouri al-Malik- is experiencing a historic loss in the parliament”, added al-Maliki.
On the other side, the Islamic Dawa Party has announced that leaders of National Iraqi Alliance- also a parliamentary coalition- set to hold a "serious" meeting with the Alliance members to discuss the recent incidents in a bid to work out a roadmap to put an end to the crisis. Furthermore, Shwan Davoudi, an MP from Kurdistan region, has noted that there was a necessity for holding an emergency meeting of the parliament so that the “three powers get their glory revived".
In fact, the Iraqi different sides including the Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and Turkmen, are now convinced that the parliament’s meetings need to be resumed as soon as possible. However, the distrust of the Iraqi parties to each other remains the major hurdle ahead of the much needed resumption of activity of parliament. Actually, they are not ready to stand negotiations without preconditions.
A majority of the parliamentary factions now have set conditions for PM al-Abadi, arguing that they would not come back to parliament unless their conditions are met. For example the most important precondition of the Sunni parties is that Salim al-Jubouri remains the speaker of the parliament. Also the Kurds set their own precondition as they demanded that there should be an agreement between the parliament’s factions before holding the general session of the parliament. They also asked for provision of security of Iraq generally and Baghdad the capital specifically by the Iraqi armed forces. Moreover, they called on the PM al-Abadi to stay committed to the previous agreements with the Kurds on their share in the new cabinet.
All in all, it can be suggested that the preconditions set by the Sunnis and Kurds in addition to the internecine Shiite divisions are likely to ruin prospects of a considerable agreement although the Iraqis hold the will to move out of the current standoff.
