30 March 2016•Update: 04 April 2016
By Ibrahim Salih
BAGHDAD
Prominent Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has warned that his bloc in parliament would vote to withdraw confidence from Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi if the latter failed to appoint a new government by Thursday, while demonstrations by al-Sadr's supporters continued outside Baghdad's Green Zone.
"Parliament has given the prime minister until Thursday [to present a new government] and he must abide by this deadline," al-Sadr said in a message to supporters camped outside Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone.
"If he [al-Abadi] fails to do so, we will… vote to withdraw confidence from him," he warned.
Al-Sadr’s "Ahrar" bloc in parliament holds 34 seats in the 328-seat assembly and three ministerial portfolios in Iraq’s current government.
On Monday, parliament gave al-Abadi a three-day deadline to present a new cabinet lineup or face a vote of no-confidence.
The move came amid large protests by al-Sadr’s supporters aimed at pressuring the prime minister to appoint a government of "technocrats" untainted by corruption or sectarianism -- both of which, critics say, have hamstrung Iraq’s previous post-invasion governments.
- No Iranian mediation
Al-Sadr, meanwhile, denied reports of Iranian mediation aimed at ending the protests by his followers.
"No one has dared to negotiate with me or try to convince me to withdraw [demonstrations by my supporters] from outside the Green Zone," al-Sadr told Al-Itesam daily on Wednesday.
"There is no Iranian mediation; I don't think the Iranians would get involved," he said.
Al-Abadi, for his part, says he has presented a reform program aimed at fighting rampant corruption.
"The program also includes mechanisms for choosing non-party technocrats for top [government] posts," he said.
The prime minister, however, did not clarify as to whether he would abide by the three-day deadline set by parliament for him to present a new government lineup.
Last summer, Iraq’s parliament approved a sweeping raft of reforms proposed by al-Abadi. The reforms are aimed at meeting popular demands to eliminate government corruption and streamline state bureaucracy.
