IRAQI PM TEAMS UP WITH SHIITE MILITIA GROUPS FOR ELECTIONS
Haider Al Abadi announces ‘cross-sectarian’ Victory Alliance electoral list after reaching an agreement with powerful Al Fatih militia coalition
The Iraqi prime minister announced yesterday he would lead a “cross-sectarian” list in the upcoming general elections.
Haider Al Abadi, a Shiite who led the country in the four-year war against ISIL, said he would seek to form a bloc called Nasr Al Iraq – or The Victory Alliance – to contest the parliamentary elections with candidates from other communities.
“The Victory Alliance will boost the country’s integrity and national sovereignty, correct mistakes and achieve justice and equality for all Iraqis,” Mr Al Abadi said.
He reached an agreement with the Al Fatih coalition, a group of powerful Shiite militias led by Hadi Al Ameri, to be part of the bloc.
This would “transcend sectarianism, discrimination and segregation”, he said.
The Victory Alliance brings together the most powerful political and armed Shiite factions that fought alongside the Iraqi army under the umbrella of Hashed Al Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces.
Hashed Al Shaabi formed in 2014 after Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, urged citizens to take up arms against ISIL militants.
“For Abadi, it’s a pragmatic choice, but it’s also a bad sign for the long-term integrity of Iraq’s democracy.
“By bringing in the Al Fatih bloc ... he denies their support to Nouri Al Maliki [Iraq’s former prime minister],” Michael Rubin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington, told The National. In November, Mr Al Abadi banned militia leaders from running in the elections, saying there should be a “clear separation between political and armed groups”. Many militia leaders subsequently resigned from positions in the armed groups.
The Hashed’s militias are mostly trained and supported by Iran and remain deeply divisive, with some accused of abuses against civilians.
The prime minister’s main opponent is expected to be Mr Al Maliki, currently one of three vice presidents, head of the Shiite Dawa party and a close ally of Iran.
He was widely criticised by Iraqi politicians for the army’s collapse when ISIL swept through a third of the country in the summer of 2014.
Mr Al Maliki was also accused of alienating Iraq’s Sunni minority and for pursuing sectarian policies.
Mr Al Abadi assumed office in September 2014. Since then, Iraqi forces backed by a US-led coalition have gradually retaken all of the territory once held by the extremists.
Both Mr Al Abadi and Mr Al Maliki are members of the Dawa party, but Mr Al Maliki on Saturday announced he would run separately at the head of his State of Law list.
“Al Maliki and Al Abadi going their separate ways simply confirms the split which exists between ‘London’ Dawa and ‘Tehran’ Dawa, that is, the different groupings within Dawa based on where party members spent their decades of exile during Saddam Hussein’s reign,” Mr Rubin said.
Meanwhile, influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr criticised Mr Al Abadi’s alliance with Mr Al Ameri, saying he was “surprised”.
Mr Al Sadr claimed the alliance would “pave the way for the return of corruption and sectarianism”.