BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi lawmakers on Thursday elected former minister Abdul Latif Rashid as the country’s next president, defying threats of violence after a spate of rocket attacks the previous day and taking a key step toward ending a crippling political vacuum.
At least nine rockets were aimed inside Iraq’s parliament, the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of government, ahead of a much-anticipated referendum in which lawmakers continued to shape the next government despite the political crisis. At least five other people were injured.
According to Iraqi law, the president will have to convene the largest bloc in parliament to appoint a prime minister. The Iraqi parliament has 329 seats.
The Iranian-backed coordination framework, made up of predominantly Shiite parties, named Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as the designated minister, after he presented an official letter on Thursday claiming to be the largest bloc.
Latif, 78, elected with 162 votes out of 261 cast. He was Minister of Water Resources from 2003 to 2010 and has since been an advisor to the Head of State. Iraq’s outgoing President Barham Saleh reportedly abandoned the construction of parliament while votes were counted. He lost with 99 votes.
Iraqi law gives Latif 15 days to appoint a prime minister, possibly in this case al-Sudani, to provide the composition of his cabinet to parliament to face the vote.
In Iraq’s power-sharing system, the presidency is reserved for Kurdish groups, while the post of prime minister is occupied by Shiite blocs. The speaker of parliament is a Sunni.
Political disputes and repeated crises prevented the appointment of a new government after the October 2021 federal elections. The clash was largely due to a tense political rivalry between influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. it is subsidized through Iran.
The real control for the warring factions in the crisis-hit country will be to officially vote for the new prime minister and cabinet composition with al-Sadr excluded from the political procedure after pulling his lawmakers out of parliament and pronouncing his retirement from politics.
The rocket attack delayed, but postponed, the legislative session.
At least one rocket landed near the construction of parliament before the session, Iraqi officials said. Others fell into other spaces within the perimeter of the green zone.
At least five other people were wounded in the attack: three civilians and two bodies of army workers, security officials said without elaborating. The culprits were not immediately known.
The attacks, which appeared to be an attempt to derail the session, came after the Coordination Framework, an alliance composed mainly of Iranian-backed Shiite parties led by al-Maliki, sent an official letter claiming to be the largest bloc. in Parliament.
The alliance nominated Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as its candidate for minister.
Al-Sadr had in the past rejected al-Sudani’s candidacy and ordered his supporters to storm parliament on June 30 to derail his appointment.
Al-Sadr’s party won the most seats in the October 2021 federal election, but ordered its lawmakers to resign after failing to achieve a quorum to vote in a government that would exclude its Iranian-backed rivals. Heavy street fighting broke out for 24 hours between al-Sadr’s supporters and Iraqi security forces on August 29, bringing the country to the breaking point of the civil war.
Many feared protests by supporters of al-Sadr, a political opponent of the Cadre, ahead of Thursday’s session.
Mark Bryson-Richardson, Britain’s ambassador to Iraq, the rocket attack “completely unacceptable”.
“Violence is not a component of the political procedure and state institutions should be allowed to function,” he tweeted.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were legal to brief the media.
It’s not the first time rocket attacks have targeted parliament building as lawmakers prepare to attend a session.
On September 28, 3 rockets hit the Green Zone as part of a consultation called to renew confidence in the speaker of parliament, Mohammed al-Halbousi.
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