Early Sunday Morning Iraq News Highlights 5-8-22

Early Sunday Morning Iraq News Highlights 5-8-22

 The Alliance Of Azm And The National Union Declare Their Support For The Coordination Framework Initiative In A Joint Statement

Political | 02:50 - 07/05/2022   Baghdad - Mawazine News, the Alliance of Azm and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan issued a statement, today, Saturday, in which they supported the coordination framework initiative in addressing the political blockage and forming a government.

Mawazine News received a copy of the statement, which stated, "We support and support what was stated in the terms of the coordination framework initiative, which aims to break the stalemate and cross the current political impasse, which has taken a long time and has had a direct impact on the citizen and the country."

The statement added, "We stress the importance of focusing in dealing with the initiative to form the government on the right of the rest of the people's components regarding the position of the candidate of the most accepted and rejected bloc, based on compelling objective reasons, in addition to the importance of stabilizing the rights of the governorates affected by the war on terrorism and addressing the problem of weapons outside The scope of the law and the centrality of the decision of the general supporter of the armed forces, the return of the displaced, and the treatment of all outstanding constitutional problems between the federal government and the Kurdistan Region, according to the reference of the constitution.

And he continued, "We also stress the importance of proceeding with the completion of the constitutional entitlements and the consequent comprehensive national entitlements that begin with the election of the President of the Republic, which is considered among the entitlements of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the formation of the government, and the approval of the budget."

https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=192331

Deputy: The Green Zone Belongs To The People, And The Government's Strength Is Reflected By Opening Its Doors

Political | 02:24 - 07/05/2022  Exclusive - Mawazine News, a member of the House of Representatives, Thaer Mkhayyib, commented on the demands and news of reopening the Green Zone to citizens.

In an exclusive interview with Mawazine News, he said, "We are with the reopening of the Green Zone for citizens, to facilitate the process of their movement, in addition to the fact that it belongs to citizens, not to a party, party or political class."

He added, "The government's strength is reflected in reopening the Green Zone, not closing it, and we support its reopening, to reduce traffic jams caused by the strict measures of government departments and institutions." Ended 29 / M 99    https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=192328

Al-Sabri: Independent Mps Will Take A Unified Position On Al-Sadr's Initiative Within Days

Political | 12:45 - 07/05/2022   Baghdad - Mawazine News, the representative of the Independents Bloc, Hussein Al-Sabri, said today, Saturday, that the ball has been placed in the court of the independents, and that the independent representatives are required to have a "steady national position and to be up to the responsibility."

Al-Sabri added, in an interview with the official newspaper "Al-Sabah", which was followed by "Mawazine News", that "the demand of the independent leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada Al-Sadr, for a national and serious stance towards the political process, many opinions were raised from the independents, followed by a meeting for them to unite the ranks to come out with a unified position, and to work on the This issue is taken with real steps and guarantees towards the real goal to get out of this political impasse.”

He continued, "During the next few days, a unified position of the independents will appear towards the initiative presented by Al-Sadr, and so far we have not taken a position on it," explaining that "Al-Sadr's tweet gave leadership and leadership to the independents, and there will be a clear vision from the independents to draw the real political map that the people wish for." Iraq, but the independents need guarantees." Ended 29/N33    https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=192320

Digital Media Reveals A “Digital Dictatorship” Practiced By Some Politicians In Iraq

Posted On2022-05-08  By Sotaliraq  size=45]Today, Sunday, the Digital Media Center revealed a digital dictatorship practiced by some politicians in Iraq by closing the feature for users to comment on publications in their accounts and pages on the Twitter and Facebook platforms .

The center stated in a statement that "social networking sites are based on the foundations of communication and the principles of dialogue that are embodied through comments and interaction on publications, and that the public accounts of Iraqi politicians are a general right of the public, and therefore depriving them of commenting or expressing opinions is a violation of the principles of democracy that are based on Opinion and the other opinion".

He added, "The real digital culture stands against the approach of closing the comment feature on their accounts, especially since closing this feature establishes a new dictatorship that is unique in one opinion and does not listen to the other opinion, and deprives the owner of the publication from accessing important opinions that may exceed the publications' value."

In its statement, the center pointed out that “many of the comments carry deep opinions and have specific connotations or appeals, and therefore canceling this feature means the validity of one opinion and not accepting the idea of ​​seeing a different opinion,” noting that “some scientific studies urged following the A more feasible approach to reducing bad comments or those that carry hateful language, by warning the owners of this type of comments that they can be prevented from commenting or expressing their opinions on this page or that, as these warnings contributed to reducing the incorrect behavior of many users.”

In this context, the Center notes “three points related to the subject, the first is the necessity that the comments bear a measure of responsibility and that they stay away from insults and use immoral vocabulary because the comment in itself reveals the cultural and moral level of its owner, and this type of comments will not benefit Including the account holder and the other commentators.”

And he continued, "Closing the comments may be without the knowledge of the administrator or the account holder, as it may be an individual decision for the page or account administrator because he is unable to accept the opinions or the way they are written or dealt with."

The center concluded its statement that “the platforms have provided a set of features that can be used to restrict the writing of some words, terms and emojis in the comments, and thus it is possible to limit the appearance of some of them in a specific account instead of closing the comments permanently, and comments can be specified for a specific category of followers or fans.”   LINK

Independents May Get All Of Sadr's Ministries In Exchange For The Latter's Right To Nominate The Prime Minister

Posted On2022-05-08  By Sotaliraq   Baghdad / Tamim Al-Hassan  A pessimistic start for a government that may be led by independents, after attempts at a close timing by the coordination framework and the Sadrist movement to co-opt that group that is still in the gray area of ​​the political crisis.

The independents have two weeks to form a "unified bloc" in preparation for entering the next government, as most of the independents are distributed within 4 political currents and an alliance.

The remaining independents, who are of one component, were questioned because of their undeclared affiliations with political parties.

So far, it is not known exactly whether independents will be allowed to head the government or participate in several ministries only.

Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Sadrist movement, had anticipated the end of the "40-day" deadline to call on independents to form an independent government after joining the Triple Alliance (Save the Homeland).

It seems that Al-Sadr hastened his call to the independents before the previous deadline expired, due to a similar call to the same category of the coordination framework.

It appears from the last “Sadr call” that it was prepared before that time, as the image of the leader’s tweet appeared that it was written on the 27th of Ramadan, which means 4 days before its publication.

According to what is being circulated in political circles, the leader of the Sadrist movement: "He may give up his share of the ministries in the government, which are 12 ministries, to the independents in exchange for joining the coalition."

According to estimates, the next government will consist of 22 or 23 ministries, 12 of which will go to Shiite forces.

Accordingly, "Al-Sadr" will reserve his right to nominate his cousin and Iraq's ambassador in London, Jaafar Al-Sadr, who had nominated him earlier.

Al-Sadr confirmed in his last tweet, published on May 4, that "the Sadrist movement will not have a participation in its ministers," referring to a government that will be formed by independents, while indicating that he will provide more details about the government at a later time.

The leader of the Sadrist movement gave the independents "15 days" to form a unified bloc, starting from yesterday, Saturday, when the previous 40-day period that he had given to the "coordinating framework" ended.

In the tweet, Al-Sadr identified three parties in the political scene, and they are: First: The Alliance to Save a Nation, describing them as the “Great National Alliance” and “the sponsor of the majority,” but he indicated that this alliance “due to the Iraqi judiciary’s decision to activate the blocking third, it was delayed in forming the majority government.”

The second is the coordination framework, which he described as “the advocate for a consensus government.” He added: “We gave him a deadline of forty days, and he failed to form a consensus government.”

And the third party: “independent individuals in parliament,” who called them to form: “an independent formation of no less than forty of them, far from the coordinating framework as a whole, who took his chance.”

The leader of the Sadrist movement demanded that "independents join the larger coalition to form an independent government. We will inform them of some of its details later."

Al-Sadr added: "The largest coalition will vote on their government, including the Sadrist bloc, and in agreement with the Sunnis and Kurds of the coalition...".

The leader of the Sadrist movement also repeated his call for "those we think well of" from the coordinating framework to join the tripartite alliance.

This is the second time that the leader of the current has called on independents to join the "Save the Nation" coalition, as he had relied on their presence to pass the presidential candidate last month, but it did not materialize.

But at the level of the "coordinating framework", this is the first time for the Shiite bloc to "court" the independents, as it made a tempting offer that the independents lead the government, but put them between two determinants.

The "Coordination" initiative, which was launched one day before "Al-Sadr's tweet", said that it presents a proposal to the independent representatives to "present a candidate" for prime minister.

But the Coordination Council stressed before that, in the initiative, which included 18 points, that “the right of the largest community component,” in reference to the Shiites, must be preserved, before agreeing on the presidential candidate.

Then she returned in the point that followed the call to the independents, saying, “Through this initiative, the issue of the three presidencies will be resolved through the understanding of the sons of each component among themselves,” which means that the position of prime minister remains within the Shiite component exclusively.

The invitations of the “Sadrists and the Framework” are directed specifically to the independent Shiites, as 10 independent “Sunni” joined the “Progress” and “Azm” coalitions at an early stage, before they merged into the “Sovereignty Alliance.”

Also, 3 of the Kurdish independents, after the election results were announced, joined the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and they are mainly representatives of the party, but decided in the last poll to go down unilaterally in a “tactic” to increase the seats of the party, whose fortunes have declined in recent years.

According to political sources who spoke to (Al-Mada), "there are major differences between the remaining independents due to the different political affiliations."

Those sources indicate that "some of the so-called independents joined unannounced parties from the coordination party."

The number of the remainder of the "neutral group" that did not declare an explicit position on the two sides of the conflict, "the framework and the current", is estimated to be between 35 to 40.

Some of the independents are represented in the Ishraqa Kanon Movement (9 seats), the Voice of the Independents Gathering (3 deputies), and the Independent Iraq Alliance (4 deputies), and they did not attend the previous sessions that were held to choose the president of the republic.

Following the recent developments, the Independent Iraq Bloc announced that it had agreed to invite the leader of the Sadrist movement.

The bloc said in a statement, “Belief in national responsibility and giving priority to the public interest and to get out of the political impasse and respect the constitutional terms, the Independent Parliamentary Iraq Bloc, headed by independent MP Abdul Hadi Al-Hasnawi, announces acceptance of the initiative of Mr. Muqtada Al-Sadr to invite independent representatives to form an independent national government that expresses the aspirations of the citizen and seeks to advance services and the age of the country.”

The bloc called on "independents, whether from the Independent Iraq Alliance or the independent brothers, to unite efforts and speak out to come up with a meaningful independent political formation capable of developing a solution to the current crisis that the country is going through."

On the other hand, there were conflicting statements by deputies within the “For the People” coalition, which has 18 seats and includes the Emtada and New Generation movements.

A spokesman for the New Generation bloc, Rebwar Orahman, was quoted as saying in a press statement that al-Sadr's initiatives and the coordination framework are not directed at the bloc, "because we refused to participate in the government."

Alaa al-Rikabi, the head of the coalition, had called earlier on the political forces to hold a session of parliament on Saturday (yesterday) to choose the president of the republic, or "they go to dissolve parliament."   LINK

A Parliamentarian Accuses An Iraqi Minister Of “Corruption” And The Latter Threatens Him With The Judiciary

Posted On2022-05-08  By Sotaliraq   On Saturday, Representative from Nineveh, Ahmed Abdullah al-Jubouri, attacked the Minister of Industry and Minerals, Manhal Aziz al-Khabbaz, pointing to several corruption files in the ministry, while the latter responded to the accusations and vowed to take legal measures against the charges against him.

Al-Jubouri said that “the files of corruption in the Ministry of Industry and Minerals are many, including the file of scrap and iron, which is not a newborn, but started about 6 months ago,” adding, “We must read Al-Fatihah on the Ministry of Industry and Minerals.”

And he indicated that “the Ministry of Industry and Minerals did not observe the Law of Sale and Rent of State Funds No. 21 of 2013, which states that scrap materials and iron are materials that can be used in manufacturing industries, that is, they can be used, and therefore they must be subject to three public auctions until they reach their true value.” , adding that “what happened is that the Ministry of Industry did not accurately control these quantities of scrap in the ministry’s sites, but rather carried out estimated estimations, where weights were fixed less than the real weights.”

Al-Jubouri promised by saying, “We will have a tendency towards justice and integrity in order to open this file,” adding that “the coming days, more files will be opened in the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, which will be followed up, such as the investment file and the structuring of many cement plants, and other files will be on the The Iraqi judiciary table to put an end to what is happening in the Ministry of Industry and to hold all the corrupt in this ministry accountable.”

The Minister of Industry and Minerals, Manhal Al-Khabbaz, responded to these accusations and said, "His ministry does not sell scrap and it is not within its authority to sell it, and this issue is not true."

He pointed out that “there is a contract for the sale of scrap for the year 2019, between the Iron and Steel Company and the Mosul Company for the production of steel.”

He continued, "The ministry had 20,000 tons that must be handed over to the Mosul Company because it had paid for it since 2019, but it was delayed due to the suspension of scrap and iron transfers in the governorate when there were smuggling operations."

With regard to weights, the baker said, “The committees estimate the weight of the quantities offered, and then there are committees that accompany the wheels that transport scrap and record their numbers, and the weight is in front of the committees with complete accuracy.”

The minister stressed that “the rest of the companies affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Minerals have absolutely no right to dispose of iron and scrap, and even I do not have the authority to sell scrap to any party outside the Ministry of Industry and Minerals without an agreement with the Iron and Steel Company.”

Al-Khabbaz indicated that he "will take legal measures against the accusations made against him by Al-Jubouri," and said that he "is not about to engage in media rivalries."

As for the reasons for al-Jubouri’s accusations against him, al-Khabbaz said that “there are other reasons that he knows well and knows what I mean, and the goal is not his concern for public money, as al-Jubouri claims. LINK

Tomorrow They Will Meet.. Independents: It Is Difficult To Form A Parliamentary Bloc Of 40 Deputies

Posted On2022-05-08  By Sotaliraq   Tomorrow, Sunday, a group of independent representatives will hold a special parliamentary meeting to discuss the initiatives put forward by the two sides of the Shiite conflict, the coordination framework and the Sadrist bloc, to determine their compass, which in turn will determine their subsequent steps, accompanied by some demands that will achieve the desired change in the entire political process.

Independent MP Adnan al-Jabri said, "Most of the independent representatives will hold a meeting tomorrow to deliberate among themselves on the last two initiatives that were put forward by the Coordination Framework Forces and Muqtada al-Sadr."

He pointed out that "most of the independent representatives tend to go towards the opposition, while others believe that confronting the political scene and forming an independent national government that meets the aspirations of the street, but according to demands that may not appeal to the owners of the initiative."

He added, "We seek a comprehensive reform of all presidencies, including the parliament, along with withdrawing candidates for the presidency, and otherwise any reform will be partial, we will not go with it," expressing his hope that "tomorrow's meeting will discuss all the details and proposals for solutions to get out of the political closure."

Al-Jabri added, "The independents must take responsibility by coming up with a working paper or an initiative that is presented to all political forces and blocs, which we hope will resolve the political crisis," adding that "the upcoming meeting will inevitably come out with a set of recommendations that will be announced later."

He stressed that "it is not easy to gather the independents and unify their visions in their approach, given that each of them has his own opinion or position, noting that some deputies have previously defined their positions as they attended election sessions for the President of the Republic that did not have a quorum, and their total does not exceed 25 deputies, nine from the extension movement , and like them from the new generation, four independents, and two from the Tasmeem movement.”

He continued, "In the sense that the other independents, who number more than 17 deputies, are the ones who support comprehensive change and correcting the course of the political process as a whole, not just the cabinet. They are also looking and wanting to limit the scope of the powers of the Prime Minister, who will be tasked with forming the government and choosing his ministry according to specific criteria."

Al-Jabri pointed out that "the demands to correct the course of the comprehensive political process are supported by some of the deputies of the Independent Iraq Alliance and the radiance of Kanon, as well as some independents and others."

He pointed out that "realizing the demand of the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, according to his recent initiative to form a parliamentary bloc of independents of no less than 40 deputies, is difficult and difficult."

The independent MP, Hassan Al-Khafaji, revealed earlier that a meeting will be held by the independent deputies to discuss the initiatives of the coordination framework and the Sadrist movement and to come up with a solution to end the political blockage.

He added, "The parliamentary meeting will discuss the paragraphs of the initiatives presented and using the experiences of some advisors, and we will inevitably come up with outputs that may contribute to determining our next destination, whether to go with the initiative of the leader of the Sadrist movement or with the coordination framework initiative."

Al-Khafaji pointed out that "after analyzing the two initiatives, including the common points or commonalities between the two initiatives."

The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, had put forward earlier today an initiative calling on independent parliamentarians to form an independent bloc to form the government away from the coordination framework.

It is noteworthy that the coordinating framework put forward last week an initiative that included some requirements for entering into new alliances to form a government.   LINK