Iraqi Leaders Urge Compromise As Country Goes A Year Without A Government

Iraq’s caretaker president Barham Salih has urged the country’s political establishment to “end the cycle of crises and establish good governance”, as the country marks a full year without a new government.

Iraq held a general election for the single-chamber parliament, the Council of Representatives, on October 10, 2021. Since then, there has been political infighting, violent demonstrations, nominations and resignations, but no new administration has been formed.

The poll in October 2021 was the country’s fifth general election since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 which led to the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The results threw up some surprises, the most consequential of which was that Shia cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr did better than many had expected.

Sadr’s bloc returned the largest number of members of parliament (MPs), with 73, but it was left far short of a majority in the 329-seat chamber. To form a government, it would need to pull together a coalition of other, smaller parties. However, that never happened, in large part because of Sadr’s unwillingness to work with other Iran-backed Shia parties.

It is not just the election of a new government that has proved impossible. Even before that could take place, the parliament first had to vote in a new president. That too has proved a difficult task.

By convention the post is held by a Kurdish politician, but the main Kurdish parties – the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – have been unable to agree on a single candidate. A ‘blocking third’ has stymied the chances of any candidate being voted in.

In June, Al-Sadr pulled all of his MPs out of parliament and subsequently called for early elections to be held. The Federal Supreme Court ruled in early September that parliament could only be dissolved by MPs themselves, which they have yet to do.

Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi – who remains in officer until a new leader is elected – has on a couple of occasions hosted talks between most of the main political parties to try and break the deadlock, but Sadr has refused to get involved.

The end result is that, a year on from the election, the country seems no closer to forming a government. Instead, the time has been marked by periods of deadly protests and political chaos.

In a brief statement posted on Twitter on October 10, Salih said “A year has passed since the elections without completing their constitutional entitlements, a harsh reminder of the missed opportunities for our country, and an important incentive to engage in an inclusive national dialogue, which is based on the interest of the country and citizens to meet their right to a free and dignified life.”

Al-Kadhimi has also issued a statement, urging politicians to put aside their differences, saying “I call upon all political parties to engage in constructive dialogue to resolve the current political crisis through comprehensive national solutions that strengthen our young democracy and support the pillars of stability and prosperity.”

Iraq has form in taking a long time to set up a new government. In 2010, the country took 289 days to form an administration. However, even with the latest period of deadlock, the country is still some way from the record for the amount of time without a government following an election. That is held by Belgium, which spent 541 days trying to form a new administration, from June 2010 to December 2011.