As Iraq’s government formation continues to stall, the country’s two main political movements — Fatah and Sairoon — are teaming up to take control of the political scene and to prevent progress from being stalled by infighting with smaller parties.
The Iraqi political scene is known to be one of continuous crises. Political parties are addicted to them, often dealing with crises by creating bigger ones so they can forget the previous ones. They postpone any decision related to the previous crises and deal only with the one at hand. However, after the formation of the current government Oct. 24, political crises have been few and far between, perhaps due to the fact that President Barham Salih works in full sync with Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi. All three cooperate on policy issues, and the president deals with crises that erupt, as he did when he mediated a dispute between the Hikma political coalition and the paramilitary group turned political movement Asaib Ahl al-Haq. At the same time, the prime minister does not interfere with the daily political issues that concern the political blocs, keeping his distance and leaving them on their own to deal with these subjects.