Sudani ally warns coalition could move to opposition if excluded from government talks

BAGHDAD — A senior figure in Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development Coalition said the bloc is prepared to move into opposition if its approach to forming the next government is sidelined, urging the Shia Coordination Framework to allow the election’s top winner to lead the formation process.

Qusai Mahbouba told UTV that “the Reconstruction and Development Coalition won electorally by the numbers, and we have a clear project and a clear goal.” He said the Coordination Framework must “give the first winner in the elections the chance to form the government” if it wants to respect democratic principles and the voters’ decision.

Mahbouba said the coalition supports a Coordination Framework “in which spaces are respected and results are respected according to size,” but warned that without “a real project for Iraq,” Sudani’s bloc is ready to shift into opposition. “Opposition will be inside the parliament whether with 20 or 30 or 40 seats, and there will be opposition outside parliament, and the Coordination Framework must prepare for this opposition,” he said.

Although Sudani’s coalition emerged as the leading force in the election, Framework parties are weighing the formation of a largest bloc without him — a move that could block Sudani from a second term and redirect government-formation negotiations toward an alternative prime-ministerial nominee backed by the Framework.

Qusai Mahbouba, a senior figure in the Reconstruction and Development Coalition, said in an interview on UTV:

The Reconstruction and Development Coalition won electorally by the numbers, and we have a clear project and a clear goal.

If the Shia Coordination Framework wants to respect democracy and respect the people, and prove that it is a Shia framework rather than just a ‘framework framework,’ then it must give the first winner in the elections the chance to form the government.

We in the Reconstruction and Development Coalition are very relaxed and not worried; we are open to all scenarios and have no problem, unlike the Coordination Framework.

If the Coordination Framework wants to choose someone other than Sudani for prime minister, then it must convince us first and the Iraqi people second.

The Coordination Framework’s conditions for the next prime minister state that the candidate must not be a politician, must not run in elections, must not have a party, and must not form a parliamentary bloc, and it seems the Framework wants a ‘puppet’ for the next prime minister.

We support a Shia Coordination Framework in which spaces are respected and results are respected according to size.

We in the Reconstruction and Development Coalition say it clearly: without a real project for Iraq, we are ready to go to the opposition and leave full responsibility to the Coordination Framework.

Opposition will be inside the parliament whether with 20 or 30 or 40 seats, and there will be opposition outside parliament, and the Coordination Framework must prepare for this opposition.

In Reconstruction and Development we do not speak the language of ‘we won’t give it up,’ and we are not ready to join cooked-up projects that have no chance of success.