Iraqi Parliament Approves New Government One Year after Elections
The Iraqi parliament confirmed a new government under the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani on Thursday, October 27, as reported by Al-Monitor. This announcement follows a year of failed attempts to form a government after an election in October 2021. The formation of the government represents a victory for former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s “Coordination Framework,” a coalition of pro-Iranian Shia parties, over the Sadrist Movement led by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Having failed to build a coalition around himself, al-Sadr declined to participate in the Framework’s government, as Al Arabiya News reports. Al-Sadr’s supporters had secured a plurality of the votes in last year’s elections but, due to Iraq’s requirements for two-thirds supermajorities for government formation, were not able to translate this initial victory into political power. What followed was a cycle of failed attempts by al-Sadr to form a coalition government, culminating in the Sadrist Movement collectively resigning from parliament. By August, as noted by Council on Foreign Relations’ Max Boot, it appeared possible that competition around the new government would turn violent, after Iran-backed government forces killed 30 of al-Sadr’s supporters in Baghdad. Luckily, further violence seems to have been averted for now.
In some sense, the current outcome represents a Iranian victory within regional politics, as the Coordination Framework is commonly associated with the more Iran-friendly elements of Iraq’s politically dominant Shia majority population. The new government is likely to treat Iran much more amicably than its pro-Western predecessor. In spite of initial positive remarks by the US State Department, it remains to be seen how the United States will deal with this development in the long run.
Aside from needing to balance relations between Iran, the United States, and other regional actors, al-Sudani’s cabinet finds itself presented with a number of significant domestic challenges. As part of his official program, al-Sudani promised to fight corruption, which runs rampant within all of Iraq’s government services – recent investigations reveal that the former finance minister defrauded the state of 2.5 billion dollars, according to Shafaq News. On the other hand, the Iraqi economy, plagued by chronic youth unemployment and inflation, is in need of deep structural reform. To address this, al-Sudani’s plans involve strengthening Iraq’s historically weak private sector. The new government’s program also includes reducing the flow of uncontrolled weapons within the country.
Al-Sudani has asserted that he will be able to tackle all of these problems within 90 days and that these first three months will also include a comprehensive reform of the election laws. These election reforms are likely meant to set the stage for the next Iraqi elections in 2023, which al-Sudani announced as soon as he took office. Whether the coming elections will simply strengthen the Coordination Framework’s position in parliament (as al-Sudani is likely planning), or if they will introduce more instability and restart the arduous government-formation process of the past year, remains to be seen. While al-Sudani’s government might just be one of many short-lived coalitions typical of recent Iraqi politics, given some time, it might have a chance of implementing sorely needed reforms.