The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, urged his bloc’s deputies not to vote for the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s candidate for the presidency of Iraq, if he did not meet the conditions.
Al-Sadr said in a tweet on Twitter: “If the candidate of the Democratic Party, the ally, but rather the absolute, for the presidency of the republic does not meet the conditions, I call on the reform representatives not to vote for him,” adding: “We are advocates of reform, not advocates of authority and rule.”
Observers believe that al-Sadr’s tweet, prior to the Iraqi president’s election session, will cast a shadow over the outcome of the Kurdish-Kurdish conflict, and that expectations are now wide open.
Commenting on the repercussions of Al-Sadr’s tweet on the election session of the Iraqi president scheduled for February 7, Ihsan Al-Shammari, Director of the Political Thinking Center in Baghdad, says in an interview with Sky News Arabia: “I think that Al-Sadr’s tweet ended beyond any doubt.” Chances of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s candidate, Hoshyar Zebari, to assume the post of President of the Republic.
Al-Shammari added: “On the other hand, al-Sadr is well aware that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan will submit a request to the Federal Supreme Court, to issue a wilaya order about Zebari regarding his non-compliance with the conditions for candidacy, based, for example, on Article 70 of the Constitution, which stresses reputation as one of the conditions.”
Therefore, al-Sadr appears embarrassed, according to al-Shammari, who adds: “His reform project will be questioned, and in my view there will be a settlement regarding the position of the presidency of Iraq, where al-Sadr will be keen to replace the Kurdistan Democratic Party with other important positions instead of the presidency.”
And the director of the Center for Political Thinking continues: “The fortunes of the current president, Barham Salih, have risen dramatically, and it is clear that he will remain in the Presidential Peace Palace in Baghdad for the next four years, especially as it coincides with the Sadrist reform project against corruption, and his proposals about the new political contract and good governance.”
On his part, Maher Al-Hamdani, the Iraqi writer and researcher, disagrees with this proposition, and says in an interview with Sky News Arabia: “From the moment the Kurdistan Democratic Party announced the candidacy of Hoshyar Zebari for the presidency of the Iraqi republic, it was absolutely clear that a decision was taken at the level of the parties that made up the majority. The political nomination in the country, in the sense that it is not only a tactical nomination, but rather a nomination for victory and was chosen as part of the upcoming ruling synthesis agreed upon between the three allied forces, namely the Sadrist Movement, the Alliance for Progress Azm, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and therefore the next president will be Hoshyar Zebari, and this has become a foregone conclusion. up for discussion.”
But what is up for discussion is what can be presented to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, according to al-Hamdani: “In order to be satisfied with the new political equation or deal, will he be satisfied with the position of Iraqi Foreign Minister that he held for years, for example, Zebari, or will there be a new political map in the region? Kurdistan and Kirkuk in favor of strengthening the role and position of the Union in it?”
Whatever the case, the equation that was in force in Kurdistan and Iraq for about 15 years has ended, as the Iraqi writer and researcher sees, adding: “We are facing a new political synthesis and formation, emerging power centers, and traditional ones in the process of decay and retreat, and this is what its manifestations have become clear.” .
According to the custom prevailing in Iraq after 2003, the position of the president of Iraq goes to the Kurds, the prime ministership to the Shiites, and the presidency of the parliament to the Sunnis.