The dissolution of Iraq’s Parliament and the holding of early elections were called for by Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday.
In a televised speech, al-Sadr said, “There will be no place for old faces anymore through a peaceful, revolutionary and democratic process and [holding] early democratic polls after dissolving the current Parliament.”
Dialogue with the Coordination Framework, a coalition of groups close to Iran, was ruled out by the influential leader.
Al-Sadr expressed, “There is no use in holding dialogue with them.”
Until their demands are met, the Shia cleric called on his supporters to continue their sit-in in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, where government offices and a number of foreign embassies are located.
Since last week, following the nomination of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as a new prime minister by the Coordination Framework, a move that triggered protests from al-Sadr’s supporters, tension escalated across Iraq.
Following the country’s general elections last October, which failed since then to agree on a new government between the rival parties, Iraq has been in a political deadlock for nine months.
