Alliance says session to elect Iraqi president will be delayed again

The Coordination Framework said on Tuesday, March 29, the Iraqi parliament session to elect the president of the republic on Wednesday will be postponed again.

Political blocs associated with the Coordination Framework, one of the two largest Shia blocs, said the number of MPs boycotting the session will increase if fractions do not come to an agreement on the outstanding issues.

Arif al-Hamami, an MP from the Coordination Framework said there has been no agreement between fractions and the group will not attend the session tomorrow.

Hamami also said 137 MPs are expected to boycott Wednesday’s session unless an agreement with the Saving the Homeland Alliance is reached.

Saving the Homeland, a new alliance announced between the Sadrist Movement, the Sunni al-Siyada Coalition and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), said there will be no agreement and all pressing issues will be decided at Wednesday’s parliament session.

The Coordination Framework is a loose coalition Shia parties composed of the Fateh Alliance of Hadi al-Amiri, Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, The Hikma Party led by Ammar al-Hakim and the Nasr Alliance, led by former prime minister Haidar al-Abadi.

They held the majority of seats in the Iraqi parliament from 2018 to 2021 but the Fatah Alliance lost a large number of seats in the last election, which they have contested.

The other major Shia bloc headed by prominent Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr came out ahead at the polls in October with 73 out of 329 seats. The Coordination Framework claim they collectively hold the majority with 88 seats.

The Iraqi parliament decided on Saturday to postpone the session to elect the president of the republic to Wednesday after the legal number of MPs required for the session was not met.

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