Tag: Iraqis

Image BAGHDAD — Iraq’s outgoing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, an American ally, and the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, a longtime foe of the United States, said on Saturday that they had become political allies in an effort to form a new government in the wake of widely discredited elections. “We want to speed up the process of coming to a political agreement to send a positive message to the citizens that we are serious about moving forward,” Mr. Abadi said. Mr. Ameri is the leader of the Shiite militia movement widely credited with turning back the advance of the Islamic State in Iraq after 2014, with the help of Iranian training and American air support. Both Mr. Abadi and Mr. Sadr emphasized that their alliance did not mean the end of Mr. Sadr’s alliance with Mr. Ameri. It was unclear, however, whether the new parliament would carry out that decision. In Iraq’s complex electoral terrain, none of the four major groupings among the majority Shiites appears to have enough seats, even in coalition with all other Shiite parties, to form a government and choose a new prime minister. That will mean forming a coalition with Sunni and Kurdish parties as well. It was not clear whether the two leaders’ political alliance had agreed on any one candidate as their choice for prime minister. Jaafar Almosawi, Mr. Sadr’s political spokesman, said that the Sadr faction already had five people under consideration for the role of prime minister, but that issue did not come up in the alliance negotiations. Political analysts said the latest alliance was a movement toward bringing all of the Shiite groups together, but it also increased uncertainty about who would emerge as leader.

RTX5OXNX.jpg Credit: Khalid Al-Mousily/Reuters Despite growing up as the daughter of Iraq’s former prime minister and earning an international relations degree from a prestigious British university, Sarah Ayad Allawi feels many of the same political frustrations as other 29-year-olds in Iraq. Allawi wanted to run as a legislative candidate of the National Accord political party, the party of her father Ayad Allawi, interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005, in the elections Saturday. They are the voice for an underrepresented demographic, representing only 6 percent of the parliament in a country where the median age is 19. “The Iraqi people are ready to pick new faces,” said first-time voter Mohammed Saleh, 22, a computer engineering student in Baghdad. Related: Fifteen years after the US entered Iraq, Baghdad breathes new life “From what I see and hear from youth on the ground and in social media, I think there is a real chance for change,” said Saleh, who supports Sa'iroon, an electoral alliance between supporters of the 44-year-old influential and independent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the secular Iraqi Communist Party. Many served in the militia last year in the fight against ISIS. He participated in a December session of Bashar’s political youth forum and is now running as a candidate with Abadi’s Victory Alliance in the upcoming election. “Just because a candidate is young does not mean he is better,” Abbas said. “I hope people vote for me based on my record of community service and my professional qualifications as an engineer to advocate and guide our country’s reconstruction program.” Gilgamesh Nabeel reported from Istanbul. Support PRI with a monthly donation TODAY!