Proposals by prime minister will remove predecessor from key role

The Wall Street Journal, Baghdad, 9 August 2015
Iraq’s cabinet on Sunday backed proposed steps by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to root out corruption and overhaul the political system, including the removal of his predecessor from a largely ceremonial post, in the boldest moves yet to defuse widespread street protests.
The proposed measures include canceling the positions of the president’s and the prime minister’s deputies; opening corruption probes targeting officials and former officials; and overhauling the way politicians are appointed, which is often based on sectarian quotas. Iraq’s first vice president, Nouri al-Maliki—the former prime minister who many Iraqis accuse of trying to undermine Mr. Abadi—would effectively lose his position if the posts of the three vice presidents and three deputy prime ministers are abolished; as proposed in the reform plan.
Mr. Maliki didn’t appear likely to challenge the move, saying he supported the political reforms under way. The Dawa Party, to which both Prime Minister Abadi and Mr. Maliki belong, also backed the proposal and called on “all political forces to commit to the program and take action to fix the situation in Iraq.”
Iraq’s parliament still has to approve some of the measures.
The plan also aims to scale back ostentatious government spending. In addition to reopening some corruption probes, it calls for scrapping costly perks for officials, including the large entourage of bodyguards Iraqi officials usually keep—bold moves in a political culture that affords high officials advantages and impunity.
“These are daring steps, and we wish to see them applied in reality,” said Masoud Haider, a Kurdish lawmaker, after the cabinet met in an extraordinary session Sunday to discuss the government’s response to the protests. Mr. Haider said canceling the largely ceremonial six posts under the president and prime minister would save much-needed money that could be rerouted to Iraq’s budget.
Mr. Abadi proposed the seven-point plan earlier Sunday, after tens of thousands of protesters marched in Baghdad and the country’s south on Friday. The protesters demanded changes to endemic problems like corruption and poor services. Iraqis’ fight against government corruption appears to have taken a back seat to a more immediate threat over the past year as the Sunni militants of Islamic State swept through the country’s west and north.
But in recent weeks, protests have rippled across southern Iraq, the country’s Shiite heartland and the power base of its major political parties, showing the potential for the protests to seriously challenge the Shiite-led government. During the weekly Friday sermon, Iraq’s most revered Shiite religious figure, and the country’s highest religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged the prime minister to take an “iron fist” approach to issues of corruption and social injustice, lending more weight to the protesters’ demands and providing crucial support to the prime minister for dramatic moves.
The protests have mostly grown out of a sense of urgency and frustration with major electricity outages in the middle of Iraq’s hottest month, leaving citizens sweltering and seething in the August heat. The situation puts a focus on the country’s dilapidated infrastructure, which has continued to suffer as the government has turned its attention and resources to fighting Islamic State.
A statement from Mr. Abadi’s office Sunday said the proposed reforms were being made to meet the needs of “the public interest.” Some of the changes appear to require revisions to the constitution, which means parliament needs to review and approve them in what could be a drawn-out process.
Mr. Abadi came to office nearly a year ago. He replaced Mr. Maliki, who was criticized for worsening the divides between Iraq’s Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities. Islamic State later exploited Iraq’s sectarian divisions, garnering recruits and support from the country’s disgruntled Sunni minority.