Iraq's Political Crisis: By the Institute for the Study of War

Iraq Prime Minister Haidar al Abadi faces new calls for his resignation as a rump parliament, falsely claiming to have quorum, has emerged in Iraq and begun to ouster its sitting leaders. The parliamentary remnant has voted amongst itself to dismiss Council of Representatives (CoR) Speaker Salim al-Juburi and has elected a provisional speaker, Wataniya member Adnan al-Janabi. The rump CoR remains barricaded in the Parliament building after an overnight sit in. Party discipline and cohesion is devolving, though the Kurdish Alliance, ISCI, and Badr– each of which has received benefits in the evolving cabinet reshuffle– have retained control of their members. Senior political leaders are meeting. Longtime allies Amar al-Hakim, ISCI’s leader, and Jalal Talabani, leader of the PUK, met in Suleimaniyah on April 13, presumably to discuss ISCI cooperation with the Kurdish Alliance. Rumors state that Sadrist Trend leader Muqtada al-Sadr is in Lebanon, as is Jawad Shahristani, the son-in-law and representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Although these leaders may be trying to stave off government collapse, they may not be able to overcome the parliamentary entropy. Street protests have reignited in advance of Friday prayers. Parliamentary means, protests, or force may topple the current government. For more analysis see: http://post.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iraq-government-collapse-likely-rump-parliament-calls-resignations