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Iraq’s powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Monday he was quitting politics and closing his institutions in response to an intractable political deadlock, fuelling fears of further instability.
“I hereby announce my final withdrawal,” Sadr said in a statement posted on Twitter, criticising fellow Shiite political leaders for failing to heed his calls for reform.
He added that “all the institutions” linked to his Sadrist movement will be closed, except the mausoleum of his father, assassinated in 1999, and other heritage facilities.
Sadr’s latest statement came two days after he said “all parties” including his own should give up government positions in order to help resolve a months-long political crisis.
Since legislative elections in October last year, political deadlock has left Iraq without a new government, prime minister or president, due to disagreement between factions over forming a coalition.
Sadr and his supporters have been calling for parliament to be dissolved and for new elections, but on Saturday he said doing so was not “so important”.
Instead, it is “more important” that “all parties and figures who have been part of the political process” since the 2003 US-led invasion “no longer participate”, Sadr said.
“That includes the Sadrist movement,” he said, adding that he was willing to sign an agreement to that effect “within 72 hours”.
Sadr’s supporters have been holding a sit-in outside the parliament building for over a month. It is unclear how his latest announcement will affect Iraq’s already unprecedented and destabilising political crisis that has plagued Iraq since federal elections last year.
Fears of increased insecurity
Shortly after Sadr’s announcement, hundreds more of his followers rushed to the government palace, which contains the main offices of the caretaker prime minister, to protest there.
The cleric has announced his retirement from politics on previous occasions when circumstances aligned with his interests, but many fear this time could spur more escalation in an already fragile setting.
His statement appears to be a reaction to the retirement of Shiite spiritual leader Ayatollah Kadhim al-Haeri, who counts many of Sadr’s supporters as followers. Haeri said he would be retiring as a religious authority and called on his followers to support Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which was seen as a blow to Sadr.
Sadr won the largest share of seats in the October elections but failed to form a majority government.
His bloc later resigned from parliament and his supporters last month stormed the parliament building in Baghdad. Sadr has insisted that no Iraqi politician who has been in power since the 2003 US invasion can hold office.
Sadr’s ally, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, remains Iraq’s caretaker prime minister.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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