Coordination Framework meets to address executive, legislative vacuum: source
Shafaq News/ Leaders of Iraq's Coordination Framework, a consortium of mainly Iran-backed Shiite political forces, convened on Monday evening to fill the blanks in the executive and legislative authorities, a source revealed.
"The [Coordination Framework] will also deliberate the candidates for the governor positions in the Iraqi governorates. Talks are still underway to decide whether to remove or keep some of the governors, " the source of Shafaq News Agency. "The leaders will revisit the unresolved issue of Mohammad al-Halboosi's replacement at the chair of the parliament."
Re-elected in 2021, Mohammad al-Halboosi was serving his second term as speaker, a post he assumed in 2018 and which, under the sectarian power-sharing system established after the 2003 U.S. invasion, is the highest office reserved for a Sunni Muslim.
On November 14, 2023, Iraq's top court terminated the tenure of al-Halboosi following a legal dispute with a former member of his parliamentary bloc, Laith al-Dulaimi. The latter accused the former speaker of forging his signature on a resignation latter.
The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court's surprise decision upended the career of Iraq's most powerful Sunni Muslim politician and set the stage for a fight over succession between his party, Takaddom, and rival Sunni parties.
Earlier today, a leading figure in the Coordination Framework placed the blame squarely on the Sunni blocs after failing to name a new speaker of the parliament, saying they "view it as an entitlement for a specific bloc" and ignore its national role
Iraq's governing Shiite alliance emerged as the biggest winner in the country's provincial elections that were held on December 18, 2023.
The Coordination Framework, a loose coalition of Shiite groups, took 101 of 285 council seats. The election result is seen as a boon to the Iran-backed groups, which have been steadily gaining influence, in advance of a parliamentary election scheduled for 2025.
The Coordination Framework, which brought Mohammad Shia al-Sudani to office after a long dispute with the Sadrist movement, already forms the biggest bloc in Iraq’s parliament. The grouping ran three lists in the provincial election, but said they would govern together after the vote, the first such agreement in a decade.
Al-Sadr, whose party resigned from parliament in 2022 after failing to form a governing coalition, called on his supporters to stay away from the polls so as not to grant legitimacy to a "corrupt" ruling class.
Deposed Sunni Parliament Speaker al-Halboosi took 22 seats, including winning the most votes in Baghdad and al-Anbar. This list of his Sunni ally in al-Siyada parliamentary coalition, business mogul Khamis Khanjar, won 14 seats.
