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Iraqi National Movement ends its boycott
in face of possible break-up of party
31.1.2012
By Joel Wing — ekurd.net |
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Iraqi Natonal Movement spokeswoman Maysoun al-Damlouji
announcing the end of the list's boycott of
parliament (Reuters) spokesman for INM. Photo:
Reuters
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January 31, 2012
The Iraqi National Movement (INM) gave up on its
boycott of parliament after a meeting on January 29,
2012. Official spokesmen said the decision was made
to improve the political atmosphere in the country,
and to prepare the way for a planned national
conference. Behind the scenes one leader anonymously
said that the real reason was that the list was
about to break-up if it continued on with its course
of action. The party was deeply divided over not
attending the legislature and the cabinet. The hopes
for a successful meeting of national leaders is also
not likely to resolve anything either. That shows
that the National Movement has overplayed its hand
once again due to its bad leadership.
On January 28, 2012, the major leaders of the Iraqi
National Movement (INM) met to discuss their stance
towards the government. Those in attendance included
Iyad Allawi, Speaker of Parliament Osama Nujafi,
Finance Minister Rafi Issawi, and Deputy Premier
Saleh al-Mutlaq. The major topic of discussion was
whether they would maintain their boycott of
parliament. At first, the list denied that it would
return to the legislature, but the next day it
revealed that it actually would.
The official
explanation was that they wanted to help with the
planned national conference of the country’s
leaders, which is supposed to work out all of the
political differences between the major parties. One
senior leader however, told Reuters that it was
because the list was about to break-up if it didn’t
change direction. The main players within the INM
had different positions on how to deal with their
problems with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Allawi
and Vice President Tareq Hashemi were for leaving
the government, and moving into the opposition.
Speaker Nujafi and Jamal Karbuli, who leads the
Solution Movement within the INM felt that they
should stay part of the national coalition, and
Deputy Premier Mutlaq was split between the two
sides. At the beginning of January, six members of
the National Movement also attended parliament, and
were kicked out of the INM as a result. The list has
always been a large and unwieldy collection of
parties. Maliki was able to play upon these
differences when putting the government together by
giving many of the individual leaders positions
within the government to buy them off, while
excluding Allawi. The boycott was also ineffective,www.ekurd.net
because the INM did not have enough seats to stop
parliament from having a quorum to conduct business.
Important laws like the 2012 budget were coming up
as well, which all parties will benefit from as they
run ministries that they use to dole out patronage
and projects to their followers. All together, this
put tremendous pressure upon the National Movement
to give up its boycott.
The Iraqi National Movement is supposed to have
another meeting to decide what to do with not
attending the cabinet. That has been poorly followed
by the list, with up to five of the nine INM
ministers attending the cabinet at one time or
another. Again, the ministers hold actual power with
large staffs and budgets to administer. Those were
too much for the majority of INM members to give up,
and thus they went to sessions of the cabinet
despite the directions of their list. That boycott
is likely to collapse officially as well.
Finally, the hopes of a successful conference are
disappearing with every day. On January 27 for
example, Moqtada al-Sadr said he would not attend,
because he was a religious figure, not a politician.
Allawi has called for all of the major leaders to be
there, so this was another major setback. Not only
that, but there is no reason for Maliki to
compromise if the meeting ever takes place. The INM
does not have the votes to hold a no confidence vote
against him, they do not have the seats in
parliament to stop it from holding a quorum, and
half the INM ministers are showing up to the cabinet
anyway. The National Movement simply does not have
any leverage in this dispute with Maliki.
The Iraqi National Movement ended up winning the
most seats in the 2010 parliamentary elections, but
has been consistently outmaneuvered since then. Its
major leaders were each given top positions in the
new government, and left Allawi out in the cold
hoping for a committee to be formed, which he would
lead, but that has been completely dropped. Since
then, Allawi has been left to constantly snipe at
Maliki, while he barely attends parliament, and
spends large amounts of time outside the country.
This latest crisis was badly played by the list once
again. Its responses to Mailiki’s call for a no
confidence vote against Deputy Premier Mutlaq and
the arrest warrant for Vice President Hashemi have
been completely ineffective. Not only that, but they
have shown how deeply divided and fragile the list
is. That has left Maliki in the enviable position of
simply waiting out the crisis knowing full well that
the INM could not keep up its tactics, and in this
case, would likely come out even weaker than before.
The final episode of this drama has not been played
out, but it shows that the party may do better
without following Allawi and Mutlaq the next time
something like this happen, which it definitely will
given the personal animosities amongst Iraq’s
leading politicians.
SOURCES
AIN, “Majority of IS members supports withdraw from
Government,” 1/26/12
- “MP rules out IS withdrawal from political
process,” 1/26/12
Mardini, Ramzy, “Iraq’s Post-Withdrawal Crisis,
Update 6,” Institute for the Study of War, 1/27/12
National Iraq News Agency, “BREAKING NEWS Iraqiya
decides that its law makers attend Parliament’s
session to debate the Budge, General Amnesty Law,”
1/28/12
Al-Salhy, Suadad, “Iraq’s Sunni-backed bloc faces
key decision,” Reuters, 1/25/12
- “Iraq’s Sunni-backed bloc to end parliament
boycott,” Reuters, 1/29/12
Al-Shummari, Yazn, “Where? Not bothered really – no
red lines for Allawi on conference location,” AK
News, 1/17/12
Sowell, Kirk, “Inside Iraqi Politics No. 31,”
1/25/12
Joel Wing, with an MA in International Relations,
Joel Wing has been researching and writing about
Iraq since 2002. His acclaimed blog, Musings on
Iraq, is currently listed by the New York Times and
the World Politics Review. In addition, Mr. Wing’s
work has been cited by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, the Guardian and the
Washington Independent. You may visit his Blog
Musings On Iraq at musingsoniraq.blogspot.com
Copyright © 2012 ekurd.net
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