Haidar al-Lami told Al-Mada website yesterday, 6 April, that the framework "will not give up the formation of the largest parliamentary bloc within the dome of the House of Representatives.”

He added that "the largest bloc is the main guarantor of the continuation of the political process because it will draw the parameters of the next stage by choosing the prime minister."

Al-Lami added that there must be an agreement between the framework and the Sadr movement to form the largest bloc.

On 31 March, Muqtada al-Sadr gave 40 days for the Coordination Framework to reach an agreement with other parties (aside from the Sadrist bloc) in Iraq’s parliament to form a new government.

The Coordination Framework, one of the two largest Shia blocs in the Iraqi parliament, is a coalition of Shia parties composed of the Fatah Alliance, the State of Law Coalition, the Hikma Party and the Nasr Alliance.

About the formation of a government in Iraq by Sadr-Barzani-Halbousi coalition, Dr. Waeli told Kurdpress "I believe that the idea of such a coalition is problematic both in theoretical and practical ways. The tripartite coalition has the majority of seats, but it still can’t move forward."

"First, theoretically the coalition is supposed to be different from previous coalitions that lead to government formation. But if you look at it, it still contains Kurds, Sunni, and Shia. The difference now is that it aims to exclude important players in the Kurdish and Shia communities. In other words, it is still Muhasasa, only limited to a subset of the Iraqi political community which will eventually lead to an unstable government," he further said about the coalition and its plan to form a government in Iraq.

"The PDK, which politically dominates Iraqi Kurdistan wants to sideline the PUK, which is dominant on the ground in Sulimaniya and Halabja," Dr. Waeli said about the tension between the Kurdish parties in Iraqi Kurdistan.

"Sadr wants to sideline all other Shia parties. But again, the rest of the Shia parties together form a formidable force on the ground, given that the Iraqi parliament does not necessarily reflect that due to the limitations of Iraq’s new election law," he further said about the situation in Iraq, adding that "only the Sunnis have a unified front at the moment, but there are no guarantees that the coalition won’t break down in the near future and if it does, then Halbousi will probably come out as the stronger player."

"Therefore, on a practical basis the coalition isn’t capable of moving forward. And the intention is to ignore large political forces on the ground is not realistic," he said about how practical in the coalition's plan in forming a majority government in the current situation in Iraq.

Reporter's code: 50101