Obstructionism delays formation of Iraqi gov't seven months after elections

By Al'aa Al-Huwaijel BAGHDAD, May 17 (KUNA) -- Seven months has passed since the early elections were held in Iraq with many thinking that this would pave the way for the formation of the government and electing a President for the country without any hiccups.
However, this did not occur due to the obstructionism on part of certain individuals and groups, leading to the complete clogging of the Iraqi political process.
On October tenth of 2021, the election made it clear that three major blocs -- the Shiite Al-Sadrists movement, the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance, and the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) -- had a major stake in 180 of the total of 329 seats in parliament.
The three political blocs, back then, did not have a clear unified vision or formally went into an alliance for a "national majority" government, which might have threatened other parties usually part of the older incarnations of the cabinet.
The tension between the three major blocs and the rest of the political spectrum had resulted in the current quagmire of failing to form a government to this day.
Part of the stalemate is represented by how the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) sees the three-party bloc, as a threat to the Presidency of Iraq's Kurdistan region.
The other problem stemmed from Sunni parties having qualms against the Sovereignty Alliance.
This "us against them" mentality was solidified in the minds of some when three blocs managed to have a majority in parliament enabling their candidate Mohammad Al-Halbousi to become Speaker of parliament last January via 200 votes, a third of which came from the three-party alliance.
While the group of three were aiming for the Presidency to be filled by a candidate from the KDP, the outgoing President and member of the PUK Barham Saleh throw a wrench into the process by sending a query to the federal court asking about the required quorum needed for electing the President during a parliamentary session.
The answer came on February third, saying that a third of MPs were needed to complete the necessary session to choose the President.
The three-party bloc knew that it was near impossible to rally the troops politically and gain the necessary 220 quorum to have their representative as President.
Reacting to the current situation, the three blocs decided to launch on March 23rd a coalition dubbed "Save the Homeland" pushing for Rebar Ahmed Khalid Barzani as President and Mohammad Ja'afar Al-Sadr as head of government.
The coalition failed to secure the third of the quorum in the parliamentary sessions to elect President on March 26th with around 202 MPs attending.
The coalition realized right there and then that the situation was far from what it predicated, which led the head honcho of the Sadrist movement Muqtada Al-Sadr to withdraw on March 31st from negotiations to forming the government, leaving what was left from the said coalition to handle the situation.
The two other members of the alliance insisted that they would not go through their plans without the Sadrist movement's involvement, issuing a statement on April first reflecting such sentiments.
The Shiite Coordinative Framework Party did provide a proposal to end the difficult situation, saying on May fourth that the Kurds and Shiites, through internal dialogue, could provide candidates for the Presidency and Prime Minister post.
The initiative fell on deaf ears with the Save the Homeland coalition issuing a statement hours later on that day reaching out to independent MPs to achieve their goals.
The independents themselves were not sure if they would agree to what the Save the Homeland coalition was selling; thus, after seven months of election, the Iraqi political progress came into a screeching halt with the Save the Homeland coalition, the Coordinative Framework Party, and independents still running in circles.
On May ninth, the Save the Homeland coalition came with a statement from Irbil expressing openness to the idea of a majority coalition government.
This was met by another statement on May 12th by the Coordinative Framework Party insisting on its own vision for a government and denying any news regarding fractions within its ranks in favor of the Save the Homeland proposals.
Therefore, it seems that obstructionism would continue to be the main theme of the Iraqi political jousting for the foreseeable future, which leaves the current caretaker government led by Mustafa Al-Kadhimi mostly crippled and without any real power until the fog is lifted from the Iraqi political scene. (end) aha.gta