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Samson:  Al-Abadi renews the call for new parliamentary elections to end the Iraqi crisis

31st July, 2022

Today, Sunday, the former Iraqi Prime Minister and leader of the Victory Alliance Haider al-Abadi renewed his call for all political blocs to form a committee authorized by all parties to agree on a roadmap to end the current crisis in the service of the country's supreme national interests.

Al-Abadi, who belongs to the Shiite Coordination Framework Forces, said in a press statement, “We previously proposed a rescue initiative on the twenty-second of last June, based in essence on considering the next transitional stage that ends with new elections, and the formation of a valid and moderate governance equation that enjoys the approval of the participating and non-participating forces in governance. To ensure that the current crisis is overcome, but unfortunately it has not been taken care of.”

He added, "We renew our call for all political blocs to consider the next phase as transitional, ending with new elections, the duration of which is agreed upon and the formation of a balanced, moderate governance equation, a place of international regional acceptance, and a place of reassurance for the participating and non-participating political forces in the government, to ensure the unity of the national ranks."

He explained that the main tasks of the next government are to "manage the transitional period that ends with new elections, to restore the street's confidence in the political system, and to ensure qualitative achievements regarding files of corruption, security, services or sovereignty." He warned that "the Iraqi reality today is complex, dangerous and open-ended, and it is not controlled or coherent, and the actors in it are many, and conflicting to the point of contradiction, and any new failure this time will lead to unconventional scenarios."

He also warned that “stiffness or flexibility in managing the stage is a mistake, as rigidity alone leads to contradiction and refraction, and flexibility alone leads to weakness and loss, and what is required is rigidity and flexibility with wisdom, appreciation, responsibility and determination at the same time, in dealing with thorny and dangerous files.”  LINK

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Samson:  Sadrist leader: The political system has ended and the constitution will be changed

31st July, 2022

The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muhannad al-Asadi, said on Sunday that the political system has ended and the constitution will be changed. 

Waqi al-Asadi, in a Facebook post, which was followed by Mawazine News, said that the current political system has ended... and the Iraqi constitution will be changed... and the rotten laws will end... and the ways to circumvent the constitutional texts are over. He added, "False lawsuits in the Federal Court to obstruct any outcome will end... and the quotas and division of spoils must end."

He noted that Muqtada al-Sadr hinted at many things through his last and important tweet, which roused the Iraqi people not to miss this diamond opportunity to change the wounded reality of Iraq, and to draw a new map through which everyone who loves Iraq and seeks to build it away from subordination, sectarianism and partisanship. 

Earlier today, the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, called for a radical change in the political system in Iraq. Al-Sadr said in a tweet via Twitter, "The spontaneous, peaceful revolution that liberated the (green) region as a first stage is the golden opportunity for each of the people stung by the fire of injustice, terrorism, corruption, occupation and dependency, so I hope that the tragedy of missing the first golden opportunity in 2016 will not be repeated,"

Adding “Yes, this is another opportunity to dispel darkness, darkness, corruption, exclusivity in power, loyalty to the outside, quotas and sectarianism that have permeated Iraq’s chest since its occupation and to this day. It was honest and removed the corrupt, it has become a forger that is being eaten up by the hands of the corrupt on the one hand, and malicious lawsuits on the other hand.”

He continued, "Oh, the proud, free Iraqi people who love reform, democracy, citizenship, law, independence, sovereignty, prestige, and limiting arms to the hand of a strong, patriarchal state that imposes law on itself before the poor and does not exclude the influential, militias, and the like."

Al-Sadr stated that, "Dear friends, you are all responsible and all of you are at stake.. Either an Iraq lofty among nations or a vassal Iraq controlled by the corrupt, vassal and those with worldly ambitions, and even moved by the hands of the outside, east and west, and then I have no choice but to pray and cry over the end of Iraq, which is near."

O free men, it is the cry of Imam Hussein: How humiliating we are... And his cry: Whoever hears our awareness and does not help us... I say: whoever listens to the awareness of reform and does not support it will be a prisoner of violence, militias, kidnapping, greed, intimidation, marginalization, poverty, humiliation and the erasure of dignity. God, may God bless him and his family.” He noted that "your Iraq is the Iraq of sacred things, the Iraq of civilization, the Iraq of jihad, and the Iraq of the reformist spring.

Do not miss the opportunity, otherwise there will be a time of regret. Therefore, I call on everyone to support the revolutionaries for reform, including our proud clans, our heroic security forces, members of the Mujahid Popular Mobilization Forces who refuse to submit and subservience and all groups of the people to support reform, men, women and youth Young men and children, not under my banner or my leadership, but under the banner of Iraq and the decision of the people, and if some claim that the current revolution is a chestnut

He added, “But if you miss the opportunity, do not blame me, for I invite you to what is in your interest and reform, and to save your homeland, your dignity, your wealth, your bounties, and your prestige. And the time is inevitable.”   LINK

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Samson:  A Legal Expert Explains The Possibility Of Going Towards Holding Early Elections

31st July, 2022

The legal expert, Ali Jaber Al-Tamimi, clarified the possibility of going towards holding early elections during the era of the current caretaker government.

Al-Tamimi said in a press statement, which was followed by the Independent, that “Article 64 of the Iraqi constitution stipulates that the House of Representatives shall be dissolved by an absolute majority of the number of its members, that is, half of the total number plus one, and this is done in two ways

(the first is a request from a third of the members, any written request to the Speaker of the House of Representatives signed). out of 110 deputies, or the second method is a request from the Prime Minister and with the approval of the President of the Republic), and if we exclude the second method because the current government is dealing with daily matters that did not come from the current Parliament, neither the President nor the Prime Minister, and therefore neither the Prime Minister nor the President of the Republic has the right to submit the joint request“.

He added that "there is one way to dissolve the current parliament, which is for the parliament to dissolve itself, i.e. at the request of a third of the members and the approval of the absolute majority of the number of members, that is, half of the total number plus one."

And he indicated that “the House of Representatives and when voting to dissolve itself by an absolute majority of its members, the President of the Republic calls for general elections in the country within a maximum period of 60 days from the date of the dissolution, and certainly the Council of Ministers continues to conduct daily affairs until the formation of the new government.”  LINK

Samson:  Al-Sadr's Minister issues ten instructions to the "Green Zone" demonstrators

31st July, 2022

Mabat, known as the "minister" of the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, issued ten instructions on Sunday evening to the demonstrators in the "Green Zone" in the center of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

This comes shortly after the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, announced what he described as the "liberation" of the Green Zone, and called on all Iraqis to support the "reform revolution" in reference to his followers of the demonstrators and sit-ins inside the parliament building and the Green Zone.

"Al-Sadr Minister" Saleh Muhammad Al-Iraqi said, in a statement seen by Shafak News Agency, titled "Instructions to Demonstrators and Protesters Against Corruption, Quotas and Subordination."

1- There is nothing wrong with holding Husseini rituals, but it is preferable that they be outside the parliament building and without addressing matters that some consider sectarian.

2- Not creating a building at all...Moving caravans and the like can be used.

3- Commitment to the cleanliness of the parliament, rather the absolute places.

4- Not to issue individual data.

5- Organizing the sit-in and adopting the principle of “shafts” for its permanence and continuity, and women’s sit-ins are absolutely prohibited.

6- Forming service committees and periodical guards without using any weapon at all.

7- It is possible that Friday prayers will be held in the ceremonial arena, so you have to adhere to and reflect a beautiful image through organization and discipline.

8- The feelings of others who are not affiliated with the current must be taken into consideration in order for them to be of help and support for you and for the protests to be public and not private.

9- Full cooperation with the brothers in the security services.

10- Preserving public and private property and not approaching residential homes.

Yesterday, Saturday, large numbers of supporters of the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, stormed the Iraqi parliament building, in the second storming in two days, and declared an open sit-in until those they described as "corrupt" were expelled.

In a new escalation, the protesters announced, today, the formation of a coordinating committee, which issued its first statement, and announced the vote for Sadr as governor of Iraq.  LINK

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Samson:  The last chance for Iraq's economy is fading.. 3 years and the financial abundance that exceeds Iraq's budget by 90%, and there are no signs of a full-fledged government

30th July, 2022

For the second time in days, despite the cancellation of the presidential election session, supporters of the Sadrist movement entered the parliament building, in a sign that raises questions about the unknown fate of the political process in Iraq, with the growing difficulty of forming the new government by the political blocs in Parliament following the withdrawal of the Sadrist movement.

Demonstrations renewed in front of the Green Zone gate near Al-Jumhuriya Bridge, while large numbers of demonstrators flocked to Tahrir Square and the surrounding areas near the Green Zone gate, amid strict security measures to secure the demonstrations.

Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi directed the security forces to protect the demonstrators, calling on the demonstrators to remain peaceful in their movement, not to escalate, and to abide by the directives of the security forces whose goal is to protect them, and to protect official institutions.

 Al-Kazemi considered that "the continuation of the political escalation increases tension in the street and does not serve the public interests," stressing that "the security forces have a duty to protect official institutions and the need to take all legal measures to maintain order."

For his part, the leader of the Sadrist movement Muqtada al-Sadr, through the famous account, Saleh Muhammad al-Iraqi, warned the political blocs to hold them responsible for any attack on the demonstrators. Al-Iraqi said: “We hold the political blocs any attack on peaceful demonstrators, for the security forces are with reform and reform with them.” He continued: "You stole Iraq's money, so it is enough for you to trespass on pure blood."

The demonstrators entered the parliament building again and for the second time within days, a new message that reinforces questions about the fate of forming the next government, and the fate of the political process in general.

The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, does not seem to have any clear project so far about the nature of the coming period, and how to manage the state and order after reaching the political blockage, which raises questions about whether the results of the current demonstrations are to maintain the government of Mustafa Al-Kazemi, as seen by politicians and analysts.

The path of forming the government is escalating at a time when Iraqis are in dire need of budget legislation and building a new economic approach, while Iraq is still suffering under the rentier economy that depends on oil by 96%, which is currently not left at its “attractive” prices, and its financial availability is more than 3 years Moqbel, according to a statement by Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar, which is an opportunity that specialists believe will not be repeated to take advantage of the oil surplus to build a new economy and invest it to open a new door for financial revenues instead of relying entirely on oil, and while the days pass when oil prices will drop and financial abundance is wasted, still the formation of a new government is something elusive and not yet clear.

It is expected that Iraq will achieve this year 150 billion dollars, more than its actual expenses and its annual budget of 80 billion dollars, by about 90%.

Estimates indicate that the poverty rate in Iraq has reached 40%, as in the year 2021, the Iraqi Ministry of Planning says that the poverty rate has reached 27%, an increase of 3% from the original rate as a result of the government’s decision to devalue the currency in late 2020, but a report by the Food Organization And agriculture, "FAO", the World Bank and the World Food Program, say that there is between 7% and 14% an increase after the government's decision regarding the dinar.  LINK