A political crisis that threatens more sectarian strife in Iraq took another twist Monday as Muqtada al-Sadr’s bloc called for the dissolution of Parliament and early elections.
The Sadrist bloc serves as a key ally of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Al-Maliki managed to forge a fragile coalition and secure a second term in office because of backing from followers of al-Sadr. Al-Maliki’s tenuous support among Iraq’s Sunnis, who feel marginalized by a Shiite-dominated government, was further strained after he ordered the arrest last week of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi on charges that he ordered bombings and assassinations.
Following Sadr’s statement Monday, al-Maliki’s hold on power appeared to be further eroding.
Al-Hashimi said al-Maliki’s charges against him are politically motivated and went to the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
His arrest warrant was issued just days after the Iraqiya bloc suspended its participation in Parliament saying it was being cut out of the political process. The Iraqiya Coalition castigated the al-Maliki government for shunning cooperation despite the power-sharing arrangement.
It said it is considering sending a request to parliamentary leaders to withdraw support for al-Maliki and come up with a new prime minister to form a post-occupation government.
“Believing that they not only won the elections of 2010 (which they marginally did), yet having been increasingly excluded from meaningful roles in Baghdad, Iraqiya is in an intolerable situation,” wrote Iraq expert Gareth Stansfield, an associate fellow at the London think tank Chatham House.
“The Kurdish front and Iraqiya have found common cause in opposing the attempts of the prime minister to consolidate his control over Iraq’s key institutions, and this struggle is now creating the setting for Iraq’s political development in 2012,” Stansfield wrote.
There have also been mounting calls for federalism from at least three predominantly Sunni provinces.
“Federalism as an idea has been a grenade waiting to have the pin pulled from it ever since the Constitution of Iraq, passed in 2005, allowed for the formation of ‘regions….’ It is no understatement to say that the federalism question is one which will dominate political life, perhaps violently, in the months ahead,” Stansfield said.
The political crisis erupted just days after U.S. troops withdrew and as a fresh round of violence flared in Baghdad. It has given rise to fears that Iraq is in for more sectarian bloodshed, which ripped apart the country at the height of the Iraq war.