BAGHDAD —
Iraq’s top executive powers and major parties
agreed Monday at a meeting boycotted by powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr
to work towards holding early elections, a week after deadly unrest, the prime
minister’s office said.
اضافة اعلان
The president, prime minister, and parliament
speaker met with representatives of political parties to chart an exit from an
11-month-long political paralysis.
They “agreed to form a technical committee
comprising the various political forces ... to bridge differences with the aim
of reaching early elections”,
Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s office said
in a statement.
Early elections have been a key demand of Sadr and
his supporters who have called for the dissolution of parliament.
Sadr’s rivals in the pro-Iran Coordination Framework
want a new head of government appointed before new polls are held.
Under the constitution, parliament can only be
dissolved by an absolute majority vote in the house, following a request by
one-third of deputies or by the prime minister with the approval of the
president.
Participants at Monday’s meeting “renewed their
invitation for brothers in the Sadrist movement to take part in technical and
political meetings ... to reach a solution,” the statement said.
The dialogue was the second of its kind following an
initial meeting last month, also boycotted by Sadr.
It came a week after Sadr supporters clashed with
the army and Iran-backed factions after they stormed government headquarters in
the capital’s fortified Green Zone.
More than 30 Sadr supporters were killed and
hundreds injured in nearly 24 hours of violence that ended when
Sadr called on
his supporters to pull out.
Sadr’s bloc emerged from elections last October as
the biggest in the legislature, with 73 seats, but far short of a majority.
Since then the country has been mired in political
deadlock that has left Iraq without a new government, president, or prime
minister.
In June, his lawmakers quit in a bid to break the
logjam.
Last month, Sadr said “all parties” including his
own should give up government positions in order to help resolve the crisis.
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