Iraq faces new political crisis as political parties demand Parliament speaker’s dismissal

Iraq is once again making headlines in the political circles after Saairun bloc, the largest in parliament with 54 seats and supported by Shia leader Muqtada Al-Sadr, merged with other political parties to demand the dismissal of Parliament Speaker Muhammad Al-Halbousi.

Al-Halbousi has been accused of “bias towards specific parties and disrupting parliament sessions.”

The Saairun bloc also announced that it had collected 130 signatures on a petition demanding Al-Halbousi’s dismissal. Approval will require 165 deputies to sign the petition, which the Alliance of Iraqi Forces — a Sunni bloc — describe as “political targeting”.

The Saairun bloc escalated the situation by issuing a statement threatening the Presidency of Parliament with what it described as “another method to handle the situation” if it does not implement a request submitted by the bloc after Eid Al-Fitr.

“The Saairun bloc will present a list of demands to the Speaker of Parliament, aimed at mending his strategy in running the House of Representatives, evaluating his legislative and oversight work, and monitoring the performance of his parliamentary committees after the holiday,” said the group’s statement.

“These demands will be submitted with a time ceiling for the Presidency of the Parliament to implement its recommendations, otherwise we will resort to another method to handle the situation,” it said.

Saairun bloc member Jawad Al-Mousawi alleged that, “Al-Halbousi has severely damaged the work of Parliament in terms of disrupting the sessions for a long time and interfering with the work of some important committees, which jeopardised the legislative institution’s status in front the other government authorities.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday and discussed security cooperation between the two countries.

The Prime Minister’s office told the media that the role of French companies in Iraq and the development of their work was also discussed during the call, as well as the French role in the reconstruction plans of liberated areas. The repercussions of the current economic crisis and the support that the international community can provide Iraq were also mentioned.

Meanwhile, Iraqi forces announced that they had thwarted an attempt to infiltrate the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad by Daesh fighters. The Samarra Operations Command said that Daesh elements were trying to overrun the positions of the 314th Brigade to carry out an armed operation west of the city.