A hint of a return to the elections… A source close to him said: This is what al-Sadr intended in his latest message.
A source close to Shiite National Movement leader Muqtada al-Sadr revealed on Sunday the contents of the movement’s leader’s message regarding boycotting the parliamentary elections, hinting at a return to participation.
The source told Shafaq News Agency, “Al-Sadr and the Sadrists emphasize that the boycott here is a peaceful and moral pressure tool to force everyone to review the alternative path to blind participation, which is comprehensive reform, a real change of faces and policies, and the elimination of the loose weapons that have been confiscated by the state.”
He added, “Al-Sadr emphasized in his message and clarification a very important matter: that he and his supporters are soldiers for religion and nation, both inside and outside the process, and that they will only give their votes to those who carry a national program without allegiance or subservience. If that happens, he will reconsider participating. Otherwise, boycotting is a legitimate right and a national duty.”
He explained that “boycotting the upcoming elections is a principled position and a clear message of reform. The Sadrists’ position is that we have tried working within the political process, but corruption, subservience, and a lack of attention to the religious authority’s calls have caused all efforts to be wasted amid accusations of treason and exclusion. Hence the decision to boycott.”
Saleh Mohammed al-Iraqi, a close associate of Shiite National Movement leader Muqtada al-Sadr, revealed on Sunday that al-Sadr is demanding comprehensive reform and the replacement of senior officials in power in exchange for ending his boycott of the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for November.
Al-Iraqi said in a post on social media, Facebook, quoting Al-Sadr, that “the real alternative to the boycott is to replace the current faces (stripped and removed), so that the doors of reform may open and the doors of dependency and prostration to the foolish may be closed, and the people may be safe from loose weapons, and from the suppression of voices, and the people may be rid of polluted water, and Iraq’s lost share of water and electricity may be restored, and the borders opened to terrorism and smuggling, and the imposition of foreign agendas that have weakened the sect and the nation.”
In March, al-Sadr announced his non-participation in the upcoming elections, citing “corruption and corrupt people,” while stating that Iraq was “experiencing its last gasps.”
In June 2022, al-Sadr decided to withdraw from the political process in Iraq and not participate in any upcoming elections, so as not to associate himself with “corrupt” politicians. This followed his call for the resignation of all 73 of his members of parliament.
The Sadrist bloc received the highest number of votes in the early parliamentary elections held in October 2021, but the movement’s leader’s efforts to form a new federal government failed due to the Shiite Coordination Framework’s opposition to the bloc’s formation. The bloc obtained a fatwa from the Federal Court, which uses the so-called blocking third, to prevent the session to elect a president, paving the way for the appointment of a prime minister.
The tripartite alliance between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Masoud Barzani, the Sovereignty Alliance, led by Khamis al-Khanjar, and the Sadrist Movement, led by Muqtada al-Sadr, has unraveled following the resignation of Sadrist bloc representatives and the movement’s withdrawal from the political process at al-Sadr’s behest.
Shafaq.com