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Iraq: Alliance Announced between Al-Sadr, Al-Ameri

Iraq: Alliance Announced between Al-Sadr, Al-Ameri
folder_openIraq access_time5 years ago
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A new alliance was announced between Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr and the leader in Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi and Al-Fateh electoral party, Hadi al-Ameri, who won first and second place respectively in Iraq's May parliamentary elections.

Iraq: Alliance Announced between Al-Sadr, Al-Ameri

The move came at a joint news conference in the holy city of Al-Najaf, state television said.

Sadr's Sairoon bloc won 54 out of 329 seats in the Iraqi parliament. The Fatah [Conquest] alliance, led by Badr Organization Secretary General Hadi al-Ameri, and Abadi's Nasr [Victory] coalition finished second and third with 47 and 42 seats, respectively.

Earlier in the day, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he opposed any repeat of the May 12 parliamentary elections and warned that anyone who tried to sabotage the political process would be punished, after allegations of electoral fraud raised tensions.

Parliament has demanded a nationwide recount of votes, drawing calls for the polls to be rerun.

Abadi said that only the Supreme Federal Court could decide whether to rerun the elections, which were won by Sadr's bloc. "The matter is exclusively in the hands of the judiciary, not politicians. The government and Parliament don't have the power to cancel the election," Abadi told a news conference.

Sadr Monday urged Iraqis to unite rather than squabble over a possible rerun, in a message apparently meant to lower the political temperature after a ballot box storage depot caught fire.

Abadi called the fire a deliberate act and said the attorney general would bring charges against those who were trying to undermine the political process.
An Iraqi court ordered the arrest of four people accused of setting fire to the storage site, the judiciary said.

Three of them were policemen and one an employee of the Independent High Elections Commission.

Abadi said a preliminary report had provide
d evidence of gasoline at multiple areas inside the storage site.

It also showed that security cameras had been disabled and no locks had been broken, implying it was carried out by someone with access to the storage site. Iraqi authorities said the ballot boxes had been rescued but the fire has fueled fears of violence. 

Abadi thanked Sadr for a disarmament initiative he floated after a weapons cache at his Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City exploded, killing 18 people, and said he hoped the that he would stick to it.

"I welcome Sayyed Moqtada's announcement that his followers commit to not having weapons outside the framework of the state. We consider this good," he said, adding that those responsible for the explosion would be brought to justice.
"What happened in Sadr City is very regrettable, it is a crime. Those responsible will receive their just punishment."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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