Sadr’s departure from the Iraqi political process; A strategy for a comeback.
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.
Although Moqtada Sadr has many things in common with other Shiite groups and parties in Iraq, such as opposing the occupation of the American military and defending the Palestinian issue, but in the context of Iraq’s internal politics and the relationship with its neighbors, especially Iran and Saudi Arabia, with some Shiites and the resistance movement, he has There has been a difference of opinion.
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 the Sadr movement and the Iraqi Communist Party, despite their relative superiority in the parliamentary elections, failed in the field of government formation and the election of the president. They stayed and this caused Sadr to say goodbye to the political process ruling 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.
The Iraqi News Agency wrote about this: Moqtada Sadr, the leader of the Sadr movement in Iraq, during the meeting with the members of the Sadr faction in Najaf Ashraf noted: “Greetings to you and before saying goodbye to each other and before thanking you for your positions and unity and Your integrity, I want to inform you of 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 this country’s parliament resigned collectively at its leader’s request. Mohammad Al-Halboosi, the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, immediately announced his agreement with this request of the representatives of the Iraqi Sadr movement.
Sadr’s departure from the Iraqi political process; A strategy for a comeback
After the withdrawal of the Sadr movement, the leader of this movement called for massive public protests encouraged his followers to sit in the parliament and occupy the parliament building, and finally called for another election. The supporters of the Sadr movement 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, 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.
The reasons for Sadr’s withdrawal from the political current of Iraq
Moqtada Sadr has always tried to be a main and influential player in the Iraqi political arena; 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 the confrontation of two fronts, one is Seyyed Moqtada Sadr and the other is the coordination framework, with other Shiite parties on their side. When Seyed Moqtadi Sadr won 73 seats 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-Halboosi 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 Halbusi as the president of the parliament, but after that, they could not get the necessary number to elect the president.
The Shiite 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 Shiite united front. 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 MPs from the parliament on his order, and other MPs replaced them.
Finally, he introduced the Sudanese Shia coordination framework as the prime minister. He is one of the supporters of Hashd al-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 country’s best interest.
The possibility of Sadr’s return 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. That is, he should be the leader and political leader of the Shia front in Iraq so that he can manage this front and have the leadership of this field.
“Saad al-Muttalabi”, an independent Iraqi politician, said about Moqtada Sadr’s return to the Iraqi political arena: “I believe that this return will be either through the return of the Sadr movement under the leadership of Moqtada Sadr, or through the separation of a political faction from it, which is the name of the movement. It will drag the top, but at the same time, it will not be connected to the top. 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 not shown contradictory behavior in recent years.