BAGHDAD: According to a video broadcast by the state-owned al-Iraqiya station, the Iraqi parliament speaker has approved the resignation of all members of the Sadrist Movement, the largest winner in the October 10 elections.
According to a written statement affixed with his seal and signature, the resignation came shortly after Sadrist Movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr, also a renowned Shiite cleric in Iraq, ordered his bloc's members to resign from parliament to preserve the democratic process from an unknown fate.
The Sadrist Movement was a member of the 'Saving the Homeland' alliance, which also included Masoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Sunni Halbousi's Sovereignty Alliance.
The resignation is "a sacrifice from me for the benefit of the homeland and the people to save them from an uncertain fate," al-Sadr said in a statement, emphasising that the KDP and the Sovereignty Alliance are no longer allies, as per reports.
On Thursday, the Sadrist Movement's leader said that unless a national majority government was created, his bloc would be in parliamentary opposition or totally exit from the political process, and directed members of his bloc to prepare their resignations.
The establishment of a new Iraqi government has been hindered in recent months by ongoing disputes among Shiite groups, since the parliament has been unable to elect a new President by a two-thirds majority of the 329-seat parliament as required by the constitution.
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