Al Sadr’s Main Rival Urges All Blocs To Rejoin Government
Baghdad, Nov 21, (VOI)- Head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council Abdul Aziz al-Hakim on Wednesday called on all parties that withdrew from the government to return to bring about a national reconciliation.
“Al-Hakim’s call came during his meeting with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki on Tuesday,” according to a statement released by the SIIC on Wednesday.
The cabinet comprises of 37 ministers, but the recent withdrawal from the government by ministers of three major parliamentary blocs: the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), the Sadrists bloc and the Iraqi National List, creating a political dilemma.
All efforts exerted to get them back failed.
The IAF, the third largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament with 44 out of a total 275 seats, quit the Maliki government in August 2007. Its five ministers, as well as Deputy Premier Sallam al-Zawbaie, have resigned in protest of the government’s “failure to meet the demands submitted by the front.”
The Sadrist bloc withdrew its six ministers from the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a few months ago, protesting against al-Maliki’s failure to set a timetable for U.S. withdrawal.
“The two sides discussed progress realized in the security and political situation in Iraq,” the statement noted.
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim returned home on Monday from the Iranian capital Tehran where he was on a “visit to complement treatment” that took more than five months.
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