The leader of the Sadr Movement announced on Thursday that he would not allow the return of his political bloc to Parliament.
The Sadr coalition had won 73 seats - the largest share in parliament - during the October elections before it decided to withdraw in June.
The announcement comes a day after the Federal Court refused to dissolve Parliament based on a petition submitted by the movement.
Al-Sadr reiterated his complete refusal to agree with his opponents in the Shiite Coordination Framework forces, accusing them of preventing him from forming a “national” government, by allying with some Kurdish and Sunni forces following the announcement of the election results.
In a lengthy statement posted by Saleh Mohammad al-Iraqi, who is known as Al-Sadr minister, the head of the movement said: “The return of the bloc to the House of Representatives signifies a possibility, even if weak, of reaching consensus with the Coordination Framework; thus, we reject such return…”
Al-Sadr acknowledged the pressure exerted on his allies, represented by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance, by the Coordination Framework and other forces to force them to form a government away from the Sadrist movement.
But he said that his move was aimed at “ending the suffering of an entire people.”
“It is the people, not the movement, who refuse to have a corrupt government again,” he remarked.
A decisive step of this kind would make the country’s future and the shabby political process more complex, and dispel the hopes of resolving the political conflict between Shiite poles, mainly that circles within the Sadrist movement have hinted at an intention to stage massive street demonstrations.
