Iraq PM exits amid continuing violence

BAGHDAD: The government of Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi ended on Sunday after two months of violent unrest that has left more than 420 people dead and thousands mourning them in nationwide marches.

As anti-government demonstrators across the strife-torn country massed to honour the fallen activists, parliament met to accept the resignation which the 77-year-old had offered two days ago. While Abdel Mahdi stays on initially to lead a caretaker government, President Barham Saleh will now be asked to name a successor to face the challenge of resolving the political chaos that has engulfed the nation.

The protest movement is Iraq’s biggest since the Us-led invasion of 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein and installed a democratic system in the oil-rich but povertyplagued nation.

Tens of thousands have vented their anger at a governing class they despise as inept, corrupt and beholden to foreign powers, especially neighbouring Iran, whose consulate in the city of Najaf was torched last Wednesday.

The rallies spread on Sunday from the protest epicentre in Baghdad and the mostly Shia south to the northern, majoritysunni city of Mosul, where hundreds of students dressed in black organised a mourning march.

Some protesters cautiously welcomed the departure of the premier, who came to power just a year ago based on a shaky alliance between rival parties, but they demanded far more deeprooted change.

Observers said Iraq’s fractured political scene will struggle to reach a consensus on a new premier.

With the parliament’s main Shia blocs “fragmented, no largest faction exists,” wrote Dlawer Ala’aldeen, president of the Arbil-based Middle East Research Institute.

Even if they agreed on a candidate, he or she would also need the backing of the emboldened street.