Supporters of Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr spent the night in the building after storming it on Saturday.
After their first night spent in the Iraqi Parliament, supporters of the influential leader Moqtada Sadr celebrate on Sunday the beginning of Muharram, the lunar month during which the Shiites will mark Ashura, commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and central figure of Shiism. Volunteers were distributing soup, boiled eggs, bread and water to protesters who spent their first night in parliament, an AFP correspondent noted.
This commemoration comes the day after a day of demonstration in Baghdad in a context of serious political crisis. On Saturday, for the second time in less than a week, thousands of supporters of Moqtada Sadr invaded the Parliament, in the ultra-secure green zone of Baghdad, to protest against a candidate for the post of Prime Minister proposed by their adversaries.
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The country has been shaken since the legislative elections of October 2021 by strong tensions. After months of endless negotiations and internal disputes, the major parties have still not managed to agree on the appointment of a President of the Republic or a new head of government.
On Wednesday, thousands of demonstrators briefly occupied parliament to reject a candidate for prime minister put forward by Moqtada Sadr’s opponents. Kingmaker and troublemaker on the political scene, the Shiite leader has launched a campaign of maximum pressure against his opponents, rejecting their candidate for the post of head of government.
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The demonstrators denounce the candidacy for the post of Prime Minister of Mohamed Chia al-Soudani, considered close to the former head of government Nouri al-Maliki, historical enemy of Mr. Sadr. “We are here for a reform revolution (…) to make the people victorious and Sayyed Moqtada Sadr the leader“, launched a protester Haydar al-Lami. “The corrupt we don’t want, and we don’t want to try the ones we’ve already seenin power, he said, interviewed by AFP. “They bring us nothing, since 2003 until now they are the same, they have harmed us“.
Government formation
If he has today decided to maintain the pressure on his adversaries, Moqtada Sadr had however left them the task of forming a government, causing his 73 deputies to resign in June: they represented the first force within the Parliament of 329 deputies.
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