The Daily Clarity

Division in the Iraqi parliament

The Daily Clarity has been closely following the delicate negotiations to extend the UN sanction for the US troops to remain in Iraq past the end of year deadline. Yesterday we reported that it looked as though a compromise deal might have been reached. Any deal needs to be sanctioned by the Iraqi parliament. It now appears there might well be a problem getting this approval and that it is threatening to break the fragile co-operation between the Shiite factors in the government. Passage of the bill requires a majority vote by the Parliament but this is not a sure thing. The Parliament is dominated by a coalition of Shiite groups but also has a minority Sunni block

Prime Minister al-Maliki is also the leader of one of the Shiite sects, the Dawa Party. This party, although Shiite, consists mainly of highly educated and the more secular members. Since 2003 Dawa has had a co-operative relationship with the more religious Supreme Council. The Shitte Supreme Council was originally formed in Iran in the 1980’s. It still has very strong ties to Iran and many think it is influenced in its positions by Tehran’s political agendas. The co-operation between the two was originally based on mutual interest as Shiite groups emerged from long-term domination by Saddam Hussein’s and the Sunnis. It was a partnership of convenience.

Tensions between Dawa and the Supreme Council have been building for a while. The Supreme Council has traditionally had the most influence over the Southern part of Iraq. Recently al-Maliki and by association the Dawa Party has been challenging this dominance. As the British troops withdraw from Basra in the South some security forces need to fill the gap. al-Maliki has been setting up co-operative agreements with Southern tribesman paying them cash to form militias . The Supreme Council has been highly critical of the arrangements. They have been calling for he tribes not to co-operate - even in some cases to disband these militia. The Supreme Council has been openly critical of al-Maliki and this initiative. In a thinly veiled statement they said that a leading politician was using oil revenues to sway voters with cash donations. Everyone in the region knew what was meant. There is now an openly combative element between the two parties. The Supreme Council also has its eye on the January Provincial elections as it would like to see the Southern provinces as a self-governing region. Whether the mandate will be passed is a question- that the Supreme Council will co-operate is not a given. Al-Maliki now needs to win over the other important voting blocks including the Sunnis to get the mandate through. Whether national interest will be more important than sectarian concerns only time will tell. These are interesting challenges for Iraq as it matures as a democracy.