Iraq’s PM Abadi facing “mutiny” from within Shi’ite camp: source

[Valin]

ASHARQ AL-AWSAT:

Supporters of former PM Maliki, Shi’ite militia commanders making “secret moves” against premier, source says

Sunday, 27 Sep, 2015

 

London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi is facing a “mutiny” from within Shi’ite circles in the country over his recent crackdown on government corruption, an informed source said on Saturday. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat via telephone, the source—a high-level Shi’ite politician who requested anonymity—said that “moves, though unofficial, are being made in secret” against Abadi in response to recent reforms he enacted in August. “The struggle is within the Shi’ite camp, among its different political and religious lines, and is a struggle for influence, power, and money,” the source said.

 

Abadi, a moderate Shi’ite Islamist who has sought reconciliation between both Sunnis and Shi’ites, has struggled to build a broad political support-base for substantive reforms he has promised since becoming PM in September 2014. In August he canceled a number of government posts including Iraq’s three vice president positions, in response to a groundswell of public protests across Iraq calling for better public services and government action to tackle Iraq’s endemic corruption problems. The move has faced opposition from removed vice presidents Iyad Allawi, Osama Al-Nujaifi, and Nuri Al-Maliki, who is also Abadi’s predecessor as premier. All three have called the cancelation of the posts unconstitutional and earlier this month Allawi called for Iraqi MPs to remove Abadi from power.

 

(Snip)

 

Despite some opposition in various quarters, Abadi’s reforms have received support from Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, who possesses major clout in Shi’ite-majority Iraq. Prior to the reforms in August, Sistani called on Abadi to “strike with an iron fist” against corruption and appoint officials on the basis of merit and not on party or sectarian affiliation. Numerous posts in Iraq are divided up along sectarian and ethnic lines. The three vice presidents posts were shared between two Shi’ites and a Sunni, while the country’s three deputy prime minister posts are shared between a Shi’ite, a Sunni, and a Kurd. The three top political posts of president, prime minister, and speaker of parliament go to a Kurd, Shi’ite, and Sunni respectively.