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Shia cleric, Sadr, eyes national majority government in Iraq

November 18, 2021 at 8:47 pm

Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr take to the streets to celebrate in Baghdad’s Tahrir square on October 11, 2021 [Ayman Yaqoob – Anadolu Agency]

The Sadrist Movement in Iraq intends to form a national majority government, its leader said on Thursday, after it dominated the country’s parliamentary elections as the Sairoon Alliance last month, Anadolu News Agency reports.

“The whole world has witnessed that the elections were held in a transparent manner. We have two ways before us, either to form a national majority government or to form a national opposition,” Muqtada Al-Sadr, a Shia cleric, said at a press conference in Najaf city in southern Iraq.

Referring to what he said were uncontrolled armed groups within the Iran-backed Hashd Al-Shaabi militia, al-Sadr said these should be dissolved and their weapons handed over to the government.

The Sadrist Bloc made big gains in Iraq’s parliamentary election on 10 October, taking 74 seats in the 329-member parliament.

The country’s election commission has yet to announce the final results of an ongoing recount.

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