Iraq’s new Strongman Alliance targets ministerial ‘imbalance’

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Political factions that withdrew from the Reconstruction and Development bloc, led by former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and aligned with the State of Law Coalition headed by Nouri al-Maliki, are preparing to form a new alliance under the name “Strongman Alliance,” a political source told Shafaq News on Saturday.

Iraqi politician close to the Shiite Coordination Framework, Abu Mithaq al-Masari, noted that the alliance would be formally launched once consultations among its leadership are completed, adding that the bloc aims to “restore balance” to the political process and prevent factions close to Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi from dominating decision-making without broader coordination with other political forces.

Characterizing the allocation of the Oil and Electricity ministries to al-Sudani’s bloc as a “major imbalance,” he argued that sovereign ministries are typically valued at no more than 14 points or parliamentary seats under the political quota system, while the two ministries together accounted for more than double that figure.

‘’That imbalance prompted some allied factions to withdraw from the bloc due to concerns over their political and electoral shares,’’ he maintained.

Earlier this week, a source informed Shafaq News that five of Iraq’s “most powerful” Shiite political figures are in advanced discussions to form a new parliamentary alliance, stressing that the development would redraw the internal map of the Shiite Coordination Framework (CF) and place a bloc of up to 100 lawmakers in open opposition to the terms of Prime Minister al-Zaidi’s newly formed government.

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