UN urges Iraqis to overcome political impasse

By Mahmoud Barakat

ANKARA (AA) - Chief of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has urged political powers in Iraq to overcome differences and form a new government.

“Many Iraqis increasingly wonder whether the national interest is actually ‘front and center’ in the ongoing negotiations,” UN envoy for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in a briefing on Thursday.

The special envoy said that after over four months of parliamentary elections, “hampering the change and reforms the country so desperately needs,” has been witnessed in the Arab country.

She asserted the need for “a sense of urgency to overcome internal divisions, to agree on a program informing Iraqis on what they can expect in the next 4 years, to manage public expectations, and to rise to the challenge of meeting the aspirations of the 40 million people who call Iraq home.”

“A weak home front creates vulnerabilities. To Daesh for instance, ready to take advantage of any political and security vacuum. But also to continued external interference. In the case of Iraq, not a hypothetical point,” she warned.

Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Sairoon Alliance led the Oct. 10, 2021 parliamentary elections results with 73 seats out of 329, seeks to form a national majority government.

The Council of Representatives, Iraq’s parliament, elects the president and confirms the prime minister.

Hennis-Plasschaers said lawmakers met for the first time last month and elected a speaker and two deputies. However, they failed to reach a quorum for the Feb. 7 session to elect a president.

While the nomination period was re-opened for another three days, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that one candidate, former Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, is ineligible.

The UN official explained that once elected, the president will have 15 days to task the prime minister-designate, the nominee of the largest parliamentary bloc, to form a Council of Ministers.