Iraq's Sadr urges judiciary to dissolve Parliament by next week

ANKARA

Firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr on Wednesday called the Iraqi judiciary to dissolve the Parliament by the end of the next week.

Al-Sadr ruled out in a tweet that the Parliament will convene to dissolve itself citing that it has “blocs that adhere to the quota (system) and are involved in corruption and will not answer to the peoples’ demand of dissolving the Parliament.”

He went on to state that an alternative way to disband the assembly can be achieved through the judiciary.

The influential cleric expressed hope that judicial authorities, especially the Supreme Judicial Council, will “correct the path” after the constitutional deadline for the Parliament to choose a president and assign a premier to form a government expires.

He urged the judiciary to “dissolve the Parliament… within a period that does not exceed the end of the next week.”

Al-Sadr recently called for the dissolution of the assembly and holding early polls amid a nine-month-old political crisis that has stalled the government formation since the Oct. 10, 2021 elections.

Last June, 73 lawmakers of Al-Sadr's movement resigned from the 329-seat Parliament after failing to form a "national majority" government, as the Coordination Framework, a coalition of groups close to Iran, hampered the Cabinet formation