Shia Bloc in Iraqi Parliament to Proceed With Prime Minister Election

BAGHDAD (Sputnik) - The Coordination Framework, a pro-Iran Shia alliance in the Iraqi parliament, will move forward with the prime minister election despite a wave of protests against the nomination of Mohammed Al Sudani in Baghdad, one of the heads of the bloc, Amer al-Fayez, told Sputnik on Thursday.

"The stance of the Coordination Framework is clear: they will proceed with the election process in accordance with the constitution, as it is impossible to put the country on hold," al-Fayez said.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people took to the streets of the Iraqi capital after the Coordination Framework, which unites most Shiite parliamentary factions, nominated Al Sudani, a former minister and ex-provincial governor, for the post of prime minister.

The protesters, mostly followers of an influential Shia politician, Muqtada al-Sadr, whose coalition left the parliament in early June, managed to enter a specially guarded Green Zone in the center of Baghdad and stormed the parliament building. To quell the angry crowd, al-Sadr thanked the protesters, urging them to to return home.

Al-Fayez said that the supporters of al-Sadr have "expressed their respectable opinion," but it does not mean that the election process will be stopped, as Iraq needs to have a new prime minister and president. The politician stressed that neither Al Sudani, nor the Coordination Framework seek to retract his nomination after the unrest.

Although Kurdish politicians have not agreed on their presidential candidate yet, "there is a chance that it will happen in the next few hours, as negotiations are going nonstop," al-Fayez said.

Iraq is suffering a political crisis after the parliamentary election in October 2021. Since then, the country's political forces have been unable to form a new government.

In May, al-Sadr's bloc announced that it was going into opposition after it failed to form a new government, thus giving other parties and independent lawmakers a chance to form a cabinet. In June, the bloc's deputies resigned amid a protracted crisis to avoid being the cause of parliament's "idleness."