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Iraq’s Iran-backed groups blast president over premier post Iran-backed groups accuse Iraqi president of caving to US
(about 4 hours later)
BAGHDAD — BAGHDAD — Iran-supported groups on Friday blasted Iraq’s president for not naming their preferred prime minister candidate, saying his decision was at the behest of the United States, and warned him to not name anyone who could be “an agent of the Americans.”
Iran-supported groups in Iraq blasted the country’s president Friday over his refusal to designate a prime minister candidate nominated by the Tehran-backed bloc in parliament. In refusing to appoint Fatah-backed candidate Asaad al-Eidani on Thursday, President Barham Salih said he was responding to broad opposition by anti-government protesters who have flooded the streets for nearly three months to demand the overthrow of Iraq’s entire political class.
Groups affiliated with the Fatah bloc accused President Barham Salih of implementing an American will to pull the country into chaos. The protesters, who accuse the government of corruption and mismanagement, poured into the streets Wednesday demanding an independent candidate for prime minister.
Salih has said he refused to appoint Asaad al-Eidani because of broad opposition by the anti-government protest movement. Protesters poured into the streets Wednesday demanding an independent candidate. But in a statement Friday, the Hezbollah Brigades, or Kataeb Hezbollah, called Salih’s move “suspicious.”
Demonstrators first took to the streets Oct. 1 to call for the overthrow of Iraq’s entire political class over corruption and mismanagement. The mass uprisings prompted the resignation of former Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi late last month. More than 450 people have been killed since October, the vast majority of them protesters killed by security forces firing tear gas and live ammunition. “We know that he is carrying out an American will that aims to pull the country toward chaos,” the statement said.
The decision by Salih on Thursday not to appoint al-Eidani and his offer to resign threaten to plunge the country into further political uncertainty amid nearly three months of unprecedented mass protests. Legislator Odai Awad, a member of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous, called Salih a coward in an interview with a local TV station and said “every Iraqi should spit in the face of the president for what he did.”
A statement issued by the Hezbollah Brigades, or Kataeb Hezbollah, criticized Saleh’s move as “suspicious” adding that he “violated the constitution by refusing to carry out his duties by naming the person who was chosen by the parliament’s largest bloc.” The Iran-affiliated groups said the president had violated the constitution “by refusing to carry out his duties” to name the candidate chosen by parliament’s largest bloc.
Salih said in a statement issued by his office that he would not name al-Eidani, the governor of southern Basra province, as the country’s next prime minister “to avoid more bloodshed and in order to safeguard civil peace.” Since last year’s elections, however, politicians have disagreed over which bloc is the largest, a dispute that has led them to twice miss the deadline for naming a new premier.
“We know that he is carrying out an American will that aims to pull the country toward chaos,” a statement by Hezbollah Brigades read. The statement said no one should be allowed to name a prime minister candidate who is “known to be an agent of the Americans.” There are two main blocs in the Iraqi Parliament: Sairoon, led by populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr; and Fatah, headed by Hadi al-Amiri. But the numbers in the blocs have continued to change since the elections, with an unknown number of lawmakers leaving some blocs and joining others.
Legislator Odai Awad is a member of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous. He described Salih in an interview with a local TV station as a coward and said “every Iraqi should spit in the face of the president for what he did.” In a statement Friday, protesters called the Iran-backed groups “blocs of corruption” that are doing everything they can to ensure that sects and ethnic groups hold the country’s top posts.
In a sign of the country’s deep divisions, Iraq’s most powerful religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, did not give his usual Friday sermon this week and no reason was given for the move although it appeared that the cleric did not want to take sides. Al-Sistani’s representative, Ahmed al-Safi, gave only a religious sermon on Friday. On Thursday, the protesters gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, which has emerged as a focal point of their demonstrations, to celebrate the president’s decision, while a post on a Facebook page close to al-Sadr thanked Salih for “rejecting the candidates that the people reject, a position that history, and the (Iraqi) people and the (Shiite religious) authority will record.”
Concentrated in Baghdad and the mostly Shiite-inhabited south, the protests have since evolved into an uprising against Iran’s political and military influence in the country. In a sign of the country’s deep divisions, a representative of Iraq’s most powerful religious authority, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, did not deliver a political sermon Friday, instead restricting his comments to religion.
Protesters issued a statement Friday saying that “the blocs of corruption” are doing all they can so that the candidate for the prime minister’s post is part of the “detestable sectarian sharing.” Iraq has been roiled by protests since Oct. 1 that have left more than 450 people dead, the vast majority of them demonstrators killed by security forces firing tear gas and live ammunition. The mass uprisings prompted the resignation of former Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi late last month.
According to Iraq’s constitution, the largest bloc in parliament is required to nominate the new prime minister, who then has to be designated by the president. A deadline to name a new prime minister has been missed twice over disagreements on which is the largest bloc in the parliament following last year’s elections Salih said Thursday that he would not name al-Eidani, the governor of southern Basra province, as the country’s next prime minister “to avoid more bloodshed and in order to safeguard civil peace.”
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.