Sadr’s departure from the Iraqi political process; A strategy for a comeback

Mehr News, International Group: Moqtada Sadr and his related movement are mentioned as one of the influential political movements in Iraq in the last two decades. Sadr’s family background and personality have made him one of the key currents in Iraq in the years after the fall of Saddam.

Moqtada Sadr despite having many commonalities with other Shia groups and parties in Iraq, such as opposition to the US military occupation and defense of the Palestinian cause, but in the field of Iraq’s internal politics And the relationship with the neighbors, especially Iran and Saudi Arabia, has had disagreements with some Shiites and the resistance movement.

The beginning of disputes over the dissolution of parliament and resistance groups

In 1401 and after the Iraqi parliamentary elections, despite Sadr’s tactical and even strategic differences with other Iraqi groups, the Sauron movement consisting of Sadr’s movement and the Iraqi Communist Party with Having a relative advantage in the parliamentary elections, they failed to form a government and elect a president, and this caused Sadr to bid farewell to the political process governing Iraq for the umpteenth time in his political life. An issue that immediately led to the collective resignation of his allied representatives in the Iraqi parliament.

Iraqi news agency wrote about this: Moqtada Sadr, the leader of Iraq’s Sadr movement, during the meeting with the members of the Sadr faction in Najaf Ashraf noted: “Greetings to Before saying goodbye to each other and before thanking you for your positions, unity and integrity, I want to inform you about something; I have made a decision to withdraw from the political process so as not to associate with the corrupt in this world or in the hereafter under any circumstances. He added: I want to tell you that despite the corruption, I will not participate in the upcoming elections. This is a pact between me and God and between me and you and my people.”

Representatives of Iraq’s Sadr faction in the parliament of this country resigned en masse at the request of its leader. Mohammad Al-Halbousi, the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, immediately announced his agreement with this request of the representatives of the Iraqi Sadr Movement.

After the resignation of the Sadr movement, the leader of this movement called for massive public protests and encouraged his followers to sit in the parliament and occupy the parliament building and finally demanded Another election was held. The supporters of the Sadr movement had protested and demanded the approval of the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq with the request to dissolve the parliament. Following this incident, the capital of Iraq became the scene of unrest, during which 30 people were killed and more than 700 others were injured. In response to these developments, his opponents, that is, the movement of the framework of coordination of Shiites, sent their loyalists to the Green Zone of Baghdad, who were far more numerous than the movement of Sadr.

Reasons for Sadr’s withdrawal from the Iraqi political process

Moqtadi Sadr has always tried to be a main and influential actor in the political arena of Iraq; In the cabinet and in the governments that have been formed, he has tried to create a flow inside and outside as an opposition. For this reason, he has had a significant influence and power in all governments and governments that have been formed. At the same time, the supporters of Sadr or his person have tried to be the standard bearers of reform and supporters of anti-government communities.

Last year, Iraq witnessed a confrontation between two fronts, one of Seyyed Moqtada Sadr and the other of the coordination framework, with other Shiite parties on their side. When Seyyed Moqtadi Sadr won 73 out of 329 seats in the parliament, he thought of uniting with the Kurds in the form of the Democratic Party and the Sunni parties headed by Al-Halbusi as the speaker of the parliament. Khamis al-Khanjar also joined it so that these three sides can form a government. At one point, they elected Mohammad Halbousi as the president of the parliament, but after that they could not get the necessary number to elect the president.

The Shia coordination framework, on the other hand, tried to reach a unified road map with Sadr and form the government as in the past and united with a Shia united front. give This framework also consulted with the Kurds and Sunnis so that they could form a government, but Seyyed Moqtada Sadr insisted that he would not form a government with Nuri Maliki. An issue that led to the resignation of 73 Sadri representatives from the parliament on his order and other representatives to replace them.

Finally, he introduced the Sudanese Shia coordination framework as the prime minister. He is one of the supporters of Hashd Shaabi and has a good relationship with the leaders of Popular Basij, but in his political policies, Sadr considered a prime minister who is independent from the armed forces to be in the best interest of the country.

The possibility of Sadr’s movement returning to the political process of this country

Despite Sadr’s withdrawal from the Iraqi political process last year, there are still speculations about his return to the Iraqi political arena. Seyyed Moqtadi Sadr seeks to be the main actor in the political arena of Iraq. It means that he should be the leader and political leader of the Shiite front in Iraq so that he can manage this front and hold the leadership of this area.

“Saad al-Malabi” the independent Iraqi politician said about Moqtada Sadr’s return to the Iraqi political scene: “I believe that this return or through the return of the Sadr movement to the leadership Moqtada Sadr or through separation will be a political faction from it that carries the name of Sadr movement, but at the same time it will not be related to Sadr. Whether the Sadris will return to the political arena of Iraq or not depends on Moqtada Sadr’s point of view. According to his statements, he refuses to return, but future events may cause him to reconsider this decision. “This is a possibility that various centers are also investigating.” In any case, Moqtada Sadr, as one of the leaders of the Shiite movement in Iraq, has shown contradictory behavior in recent years, and these behaviors have sometimes caused political blockages in this country and people’s negligence.