Seven months of stalemate since elections, Card. Sako calls for 'Government and reforms'

The dealine has long passed for the election of parlimentary speaker, the appointment of premier and government team. Institutions are hostage to divisions and opposing blocs between Sadrists and pro-Iranians. Negotiations with independent deputies. Chaldean Patriarch: politics and institutions held back by "personal and partisan ambitions," citizens "frustrated." 

Baghdad (AsiaNews) - Iraq has overrun all the constitutionally mandated deadlines for appointing the prime minister, forming the new government and electing the president of the republic in the aftermath of parliamentary elections in October 2021.

The vote, at first, seemed likely to overcome the eternal pattern of confessional divisions and sectarian affiliations that has characterized the institutional scene since the fall of raìs Saddam Hussein. Nonetheless, this time too the situation seems to be repeating itself dragging the country-already struggling with a complex economic framework-into an endless stalemate that has prompted the Chaldean Patriarch in recent days to launch a new appeal to restart talks and reach a political agreement.

Card. Louis Raphael Sako has appealed to Iraqi politicians, asking them to speed up operations aimed at establishing a new executive. May 10 marks seven months since the parliamentary elections, and the country, the cardinal writes, "anxiously awaits" the formation of an executive that is held back by "personal and partisan ambitions." Citizens, he continues, are "frustrated by 19 dark years of conflict, violence, terror, failure, corruption and injustice." 

"Faced with this bitter reality, every deputy," the Chaldean primate notes, "must realize that he belongs to Iraq and Iraqis and it is his duty to prioritize the interests of the country, adopting legal and constitutional mechanisms necessary to form a government capable of building a modern state. A legitimized authority that is called upon to protect "national sovereignty and democracy, ensure the rights of everyone" regardless of personal beliefs of a "religious, social and political" nature, undertaking necessary "reforms" and ensuring "services to citizens" before "it is too late." 

On three occasions, parliament has failed to reach agreement on the name of the president of the republic due to the failure to reach a quorum to hold the vote caused by the game of boycotts and cross vetoes. The two main factions are the Alliance to Save the Homeland (SH), an expression of Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr (and allied with parts of the Kurdish and Sunni worlds) the Coordination Structure (CF), pro-Tehran with former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's party at its core. To date, neither side has been able to garner two-thirds of the 329 seats the single-chamber parliament is made up of to choose the head of state; as time goes on, the role of independents and MPs expressing the popular protest movements that flared up in October 2019 appears increasingly decisive. 

Press sources raise rumors that al-Sadr is preparing a new initiative aimed at government formation, the details of which are not known, however, but are unlikely to deviate from the original proposal for a national unity executive. The Shiite leader seems to be winking at the independents, saying he does not want to demand roles or positions for "his own" in a future government, The alliance has set four requirements for choosing a candidate for the premier's chair, including the absence of any suspicion or ties of corruption and Iraqi nationality, thus excluding those who hold dual citizenship. He or she must then present a "realistic" government program that meets the needs of the people.

In a note released on the sidelines of a meeting held in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, the Sadrist coalition made it clear that it is "open to any political force that believes in a national majority government." And it confirmed the negotiations initiated with independent MPs to arrive at a defined parliamentary majority.