The largest bloc was settled away from Maliki’s coalition .. Sadr will officially announce from Baghdad
Baghdad today – A source close to the leader of the Sadrist movement, Moqtada al-Sadr, on Saturday, the healing of “the largest bloc” in parliament, which will take over the task of forming the next government, away from the coalition of state law, pointing out that Sadr will officially announce this bloc from the capital Baghdad.
The source said in an exclusive interview (Baghdad today), “The largest bloc, will include others and victory and Fatah and competencies for change and the movement of will and wisdom and patriotism apart from the rule of law,” noting that “what happened today is a prelude to announce the largest bloc to be announced Sadr in Baghdad , And in the presence of the heads of these blocks, during the current week or next.
“The two sides agreed that the steps to form a government after the ratification of the election results by the Federal Court.”
The Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi and the leader of the Sadrist movement Moqtada al-Sadr, earlier on Saturday, an alliance between the coalition victory and others, to form the largest bloc within the Iraqi parliament.
“An agreement was reached on the formation of a cross-sectarian alliance between coalition and victory and victory,” Abadi said during a joint news conference with al-Sadr.
For his part, al-Sadr said during the conference that “the alliance with Abadi trans-sectarian through the agreement on a new program determines the most important work will be in the new government,” calling for “reform of the judiciary and activate the role of the prosecution.”
“The government should continue to fight administrative corruption and bring anyone found guilty of corruption to justice.”
The Information Office of the Prime Minister, announced on Saturday (June 23, 2018), the arrival of Abbadi to Najaf, without giving further details.
And locked the political blocs winning in the legislative elections according to the results of counting and sorting “electronic”, and waiting (re-counting and sorting manually) negotiations to form the next government.
The leader of the Sadrist movement, Moqtada al-Sadr, had announced in (June 13, 2018), the accession of the alliance led by Hadi al-Amiri alliance to form the “largest bloc” within the Iraqi parliament, pointing out that the new alliance comes with the preservation of the tripartite alliance, Earlier, between Seeron and the National Coalition and the Stream of Wisdom.
Artricle Credit: Baghdadtoday.news (Special Thanks to Charles Bright)
BGG ~ This makes it… pretty much a SLAM DUNK. Sadr, Abadi (which I thought would happen all along), Ameri (slight surprise) and Hakim = PLENTY. I predict they will also include all the Sunnis and Kurds who wish to be included. This may well be the most inclusive Iraqi GOI yet.
Like I said in the beginning… relax. Let this happen.
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HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO FORM THE NEXT IRAQI GOVERNMENT?
Thursday’s ruling by the Federal Supreme Court to partially uphold parliament’s move to amend the electoral law has raised the specter of extended delays to the government formation process. Just how long it will take before a new government is approved by parliament depends on several factors that will determine the ability of Iraq’s competing coalitions to achieve a series of crucial milestones in a timely manner.
While some are predicting that negotiations could drag on into the new year, a realistic timeline should outline the key milestones that need to be achieved – as stipulated by the constitution – and the potential impediments along the way.
First: The Federal Supreme Court must ratify the final election results after taking into consideration all the appeals. This process is particularly complicated this year because of widespread allegations of voter fraud and irregularities. Parliament’s decision to dismiss the electoral commissioners and replace them with judges, in addition to amending the electoral law to force a full manual recount, means that five weeks after the elections, we are effectively back to square one.
Second: Once the results are ratified, the new parliament has 15 days to convene its first session, where it must elect the new Speaker and his/her two deputies. The next milestone involves electing the new President, who will then be tasked with calling on the largest bloc in parliament to designate its nominee for the premiership before submitting his/her cabinet for parliamentary approval. This entire process must take no longer than 90 days, as per the constitutional deadlines.
Third: Among the most critical aspects of the negotiations is determining the largest bloc in parliament. In terms of sequencing, it is theoretically possible for this to happen after the election of the new President, but in practical terms, it needs to be resolved before parliament convenes its first session so that the positions of Speaker and President can be agreed on as part of a broader deal among the competing coalitions.
Fourth: The final piece to the puzzle requires the largest parliamentary bloc to agree on its nominee for prime minister, who will have 30 days to submit his/her cabinet to parliament for approval.
Having outlined the core components of the government formation process, it is necessary to look at which potential obstacles could cause extended delays to the process.
The first and most unpredictable aspect is how long it will take for the newly-appointed judges in the electoral commission to complete the manual recount and resolve all allegations of fraud and irregularities. Based on previous elections, it typically takes about four weeks to complete the manual count, but this year’s elections have been complicated by widespread allegations of fraud in the Sunni and Kurdish provinces, as well as in out-of-country voting. Additionally, the commission will need to account for an unknown number of ballot boxes that were destroyed in the warehouse fire in Baghdad earlier this month. Furthermore, if the recount yields a significantly different outcome to the electronic count, we could see further delays in the Supreme Court’s final verdict. Just how long it will take for the electoral commission to complete its work is anyone’s guess at the moment, but even an optimistic outlook would suggest that final results will not be declared before the end of July.
The second major challenge is for the rival political coalitions to agree on an alliance that will be designated as the biggest parliamentary bloc. Initial efforts by Moqtada Al-Sadr’s Sa’iroon coalition to form a majoritarian government with Hikma, Nasr and Wataniya eventually ran out of steam, leading Sadr to announce a de facto alliance with his arch-rival Hadi Al-Ameri and the Fateh coalition. Given the current trajectory, the most likely outcome appears to be an alliance between the five largest election coalitions, namely Sa’iroon, Fateh, Nasr, State of Law and Hikma. Although both Sa’iroon and Nasr are reticent about allying with State of Law, it is unlikely that Nouri Al-Maliki will be left out of a grand coalition.
Integral to the formation of this potential alliance will be the negotiations over who will be nominated to lead the next government. While Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi continues to be the frontrunner, it is still possible for an alternative candidate to emerge, particularly given the fact that State of Law, and to lesser degrees Fateh and Hikma, will be keen to prevent Al-Abadi from securing a second term. Nevertheless, of the five competing coalitions, Nasr’s chances of securing the premiership appear to be strongest by virtue of its acceptability both domestically and internationally.
Given the dynamics outlined above, is it possible to predict how long it will take to form the next government? A new government could be voted into office by November, assuming that the Supreme Court ratifies the results around the beginning of August. There would also be added pressure for Iraq’s political elite to arrive at a grand bargain before the end of the year, given the country’s commitments to international financiers and donors, namely the imperative to pass a 2019 federal budget in a timely manner. While the current government can continue to function relatively uninhibited over the summer, the monumental task of rebuilding and reforming the country requires political stability that can only be attained through a comprehensive agenda that enjoys the backing of a newly elected parliament.
Read More: Dinarupdates.com (Special Thanks to Vernon Pate)
BGG ~ All of this is OP ED on a blog – not official. However, it’s nice to get some perspective though – good – bad or otherwise.
I see a couple of different twists in here which may differ from the writer.
For instance, I could easily see Maliki getting left out.
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Kaperoni (Dinar Guru) – Some people have said the CBI has been closed since last weekend due to Eid al-Fitr. Now that Ramadan is over it will be interesting.
Read more: http://www.dinarupdates.com/observer/
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Sadrist movement denies alliance with State of Law
Iraq news – The political bureau of the Sadrist movement denied on Saturday news reports that the State of Law coalition would join an alliance between Sairun and Al Fatah.
Diaa al-Asadi said in a statement the reports were baseless.
The Sairun alliance which is backed by prominent Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr won the majority in the May 12 elections.
Article Credit: Thebaghdadpost.com (Charles Bright)
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The Sadrist movement establishes a condition for Abadi to take over a second term
“The map of the new Iraqi government will be clear features after the Eid,” pointing out that the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi will be among the proposed names of the next prime minister.
Al-Obaidi said in a statement to Al-Hayat that “re-counting and manual counting of a certain percentage of the ballot boxes, in my opinion, will not affect the share of the ballot boxes. (S) of the seats that won in the elections that took place recently, but may change some of the winners in the individual lists, especially if the results of the elections were canceled abroad. ”
The leader of the Sadrist movement and the alliance of other Moqtada al-Sadr has announced on Tuesday an agreement with the leader of the Fatah bloc Hadi al-Amri to shape ”
The announcement of the alliance of the leader of the Sadrist movement in Iraq, Moqtada al-Sadr, with the factions of the popular crowd led by Hadi al-Amiri surprise to the political and popular, amid the prospects of the decline of the chances of Haiderabadi to become prime minister.
The alliance of Sadr and Fatah away from the alliance, “victory” led by Prime Minister Haider Abadi, who came close to the alliance, “Saron” during the past days, where Sadr on the most appropriate support for Abadi terms, amid leaks on Abadi’s rejection of those conditions.
The alliance has 54 seats in the parliament, the Fath Alliance 47, and the stream of wisdom 20, and the National Coalition 20 seats, and a total of 140 seats, may constitute a difficult figure in the Iraqi political equation.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party has 25 seats, while the National Union has 19 seats.
Article Credit: Shafaaq.com (Special Thanks to Tim Tarkington)
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Kaperoni (Dinar Guru) – …The CBI never talked about people around the world bringing in their currency to Banks… The 10 years is the fact that the CBI will honor their currency nothing more. …all currencies go up and down… Why do you think they go up and down? Because they float. It’s funny how many want to jump on the IMF bandwagon when I proved that the CBI must meet compliance before they could move to Article VIII. Yet those same people won’t give any consideration to actual IMF statements about moving to a more liberal exchange rate regime… because it doesn’t fit their RV, RI agenda!… Whether you agree with me or not...the fact is there will never be an overnight RV, RI event. The very thought of such a thing is contradictory to the purpose of monetary policy to begin with. There is a process…it is the same for any emerging-market country.
Read more: http://www.dinarupdates.com/observer/
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Source: Abadi will reveal documents and confessions of a photographer to prove the occurrence of “big fraud” in the elections within two days
Baghdad today – The newspaper “Gulf News” in a report published on Tuesday, that the Prime Minister Haider Abadi, will inform the political blocs during the next two days, evidence of the rigorously large parliamentary elections that took place on 12 May.
The newspaper said in its report that “the frauds that marred the Iraqi elections and Iranian interventions to cover them, split the Iraqi political forces into two teams .. Support team to investigate all suspicions of fraud, and a team impelled to pass the elections and the threat of a security collapse in case not passed.
She added that “while the legal committee in the Iraqi parliament revealed the real reason for the delay of the judicial committees to start the counting and manual counting, described close to Vice President Nuri al-Maliki, the call of Ammar al-Hakim to pass the elections as an attempt to cover the fraud and pressure on the judiciary to challenge In any procedure to detect counterfeiters. ”
The newspaper quoted a member of the legal committee in the Iraqi parliament, Sadik al-Laban, that “the judicial committees that were formed to re-counting and sorting manually did not start work yet because the Federal Court did not resolve its position on the appeals made by political blocs against the amendment of the election law approved by the House of Representatives, “If the court challenges the law, the elections will recognize the violations and serious violations.”
“The Iraqi prime minister will present to the leaders of the political blocs during the next two days photographic documents, certificates and confessions of the staff of the Commission, all of which prove the extent of violations and fraud and violations that affected the voting process.”
The source of the newspaper, that “the fact-finding committee on the fire that lasted the ballot boxes in the Rusafa area has reached important results and that it has documents proving the evidence of those involved in the fire.”
The newspaper quoted the head of the committee, Adel Nuri, that “his committee will not disclose the names of those involved for reasons related to the conduct of the investigation, but the source close to Abadi confirmed that the latter will surprise the leaders of the blocks with shocking facts about the fraud and fire that followed, and what will reveal Abadi will change the map of alliances because “Katala will lose a lot of its seats and the winners will be referred to the courts.”
And formed blocks calling for the passage of elections and not to take the counting and sorting, according to the newspaper, “the broad coalition included both a coalition under the auspices of Sadr and the opening led by Hadi al-Amiri and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and the stream of wisdom led by Ammar al-Hakim.”
Article Credit: Baghdadtoday.news
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Kaperoni (Dinar Guru) – When you reintegrate with the world’s Financial system you must exit the peg and move to a float particularly in Iraq’s instance this is important. The reason being as capital flows through the central banks Capital Account it will create inflation in the country. To counter such inflation being on a float allows the CBI to compensate by allowing the currency to appreciate. This is well-documented. The hope is that the currency will rise fast as a result of significant investment in the country and has been stated as the Balassa-Samuelson effect. If one is to believe the statement from the overview of Iraqi Finance 2018 they have significant investment lined up to come into the country. Many people have challenged me over the years to provide credentials. My response was I’m not asking anyone to put trust in what I say but to validate what I say in the very documents that I reference.
Read more: http://www.dinarupdates.com/observer/
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Kaperoni (Dinar Guru) – How are you going to control inflation when large sums of money come into a country if you’re not going to float your currency? All anyone needs to do is…read two or three of the documents from the IMF on the transition from fixed to float to understand how currency reform works. You cannot be pegged when large influxes of capital flow through the CBI, the only alternative to being pegged is a float. This is not guesswork, the IMF themselves told the CBI back in 2012 when they were about to transition the move to a more liberal exchange rate regime. The very definition of that is a float…we see the CBI follow the IMF time after time. Considering the IMF has an agreement with the CBI for monetary reform as well as trusteeship over the CBI the chances are very good that they’ll follow what they recommend.
Read more: http://www.dinarupdates.com/observer/
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Fact-Finding committee: Influential people plotted burning of ballot boxes
Head of Iraqi Parliamentary Fact-Finding Committee Adel Nouri:
The cause of fire that broke out at a warehouse belonging to High Electoral Committee (HEC) at Al Rusafa district in Baghdad, which contained ballot boxes has been revealed according to Iraqi Parliament’s fact-finding committee.
Head of Iraqi Parliamentary Fact-Finding Committee Adel Nouri stressed his committee submitted information, which he described as important to the committee tasked with investigating the fire that broke out at HEC’s warehouses in Al Rusafa.
Nouri pointed out that his committee gathered vital information about the cause of the fire and the parties involved in it.
He explained that his committee is working with great efforts in coordination with the government committee formed to investigate the causes of the fire, underlining that his committee has direct contact with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi in this regard, noting that his committee provided important information about the incident to the government committee.
He underscored that the joint investigative committee has reached important and advanced results in the causes of the fire and the parties involved in it, adding that the investigations led to the arrest of a group of perpetrators and suspects of the fire who are among the influential people in Iraq.
Nouri stressed the sensitivity of the subject and its direct impact on the political process prevented the committee from disclosing the details, including names or entities involved in the incident, until the completion of the investigation.
He indicated that some parties who were involved in the Parliamentary elections had committed fraud in some provinces and to cover-up their crime they attempted to burn ballot boxes, especially after failing to win seats in the parliament.
Fraud have occurred in the elections with the aim of supporting militias to gain parliamentary seats and manipulate the will of the Iraqis, adding that the attempt to burn ballot boxes is a cover-up of the fraud that have been committed, according to observers.
Observers told The Baghdad Post that once the parliamentary fact-finding committee has completed its work, the details of its findings and shocking facts about those who rigged the elections and planned the burning of ballot boxes will be revealed, adding that all evidence lead to Iran and its agents in Iraq.
The Parliamentary elections was marked by record low turnout. It was the first since Iraq declared victory over the ISIS group and the fourth since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Article Credit: Thebaghdadpost.com (Charles Bright)
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Some interesting headlines…
Sadr’s understanding with Allawi and Hakim waiting for Abadi
End of the meeting of the three presidencies and political leaders .. Jabbouri announced the details
BGG ~ So – let me get this straight… these guys have a meeting, set out a way to verify the results and move on, then someone who was in this meeting, doesn’t like the sound of things – and immediately (the next morning) tries to set fire to the ballot boxes (which would be used to further this effort).
Here’s my take – this is as close as Maliki will ever get to having his way again. Any one thing doesn’t go his way from here on in and he’s done for good.
Allawi .. Calls for the formation of a caretaker government and the re-election
BGG ~ Of course Allawi would say that – what does he have to lose? Did anyone notice he was the largest Sunni list with around 20 seats?? …out of 365 seats.
There are way more Sunnis than that in Iraq. Why is there such low representation? Pretty easy equation.
If I had to guess – there were a bunch of people in this meeting, Maliki included, who would like a different end result than they have right now. In fact, almost every
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Allawi’s list not comfortable with Sayirun allying with Fatih’s ‘armed wings’
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An official from the Wataniya list led by Ayad Allawi, says that Sayirun allying with Fatih violates an earlier coalition which was forged between them and Muqtada al-Sadr’s list.
Haider Mulla of Wataniya said on Saturday that Sayirun’s alliance with Fatih will affect their current agreement with Sayirun because they reject “armed wings” — a reference to Fatih which includes Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi leaders close to Iran.
Sayirun, which ran with the Communist Party of Iraq, won the most seats in Iraq’s parliamentary election on May 12.
Last week Sayirun announced it was allying with second-place finisher Hadi al-Amiri’s Fatih, the head of Badr Organization. Sayirun was already in an alliance with Wataniya and Hikma.
Outspoken Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sayirun alliance, the National Hikma or Wisdom Movement led by Ammar al-Hakim, and the al-Wataniya list led by Shiite secularist Ayad Allawi and influential Sunni politician Salim al-Jabouri collectively secured 94 seats in the parliamentary election on May 12.
The results of the election remain contested.
Sadr said afterward that his alliance with Hikma and Wataniya remains.
“Al-Wataniya did not ratify any alliance with Sayirun or Hikma, but that there are dialogues in the general framework, and we had agreed to… rule out militias,” said Mulla.
At the time of their negotiations the Sayirun said they would forge an alliance only with Badr Organization within Fatih, not the whole list.
“Thus Sayirun’s alliance with the Fatih Alliance as a whole, affects our alliance with them,” said Mulla.
Official Fatih Alliance spokesman, Ahmad al-Asadi said that their alliance with Sadr, “does not rule out anyone, and will be the basis for the formation of a national service government.”
“But whoever does not fit with our program and see it as contrary to their programs has the right to take the opposition’s side,” added Asadi.
At the time of making the alliance with Fatih on June 12, Sadr said: “Our new alliance is a national alliance within the framework of patriotism.”
Allawi is a former prime minister in Iraq and currently one of three vice presidents.
To form a new government, a coalition of 165 seats is needed out of the 329 in parliament.
Article Credit: Rudaw.net
BGG ~ Sadr may be about ready to get a lesson in Iraqi politics…
This is the very misstep Abadi made early on. An alliance with the Shia PMU’s (Ameri) nearly cost him everything.
It took about 2.3 seconds to BLOW UP IN HIS FACE.
I’m not sure Abadi isn’t sitting off to the side with a little grin – saying something like… “I wouldn’t do that if I were you…”
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Click this link to join the DU “private” FaceBook Group…
https://www.facebook.com/groups/571383766355188/
(go here and ask to join… then add some Dinar Friends!!)
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Iraqi militias, US make nice following elections
Many Shiite armed factions in Iraq haven’t been threatening the United States of late, especially since they fared so well in the May 12 elections, receiving the second-most number of parliament seats. The shift indicates a possible rapprochement between the two sides, albeit undeclared.
Some militias of the Iran-backed, mostly Shiite, Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in Iraq seem to be working to end the hostility toward Washington. Some indication of this was seen during the recent International Quds Day protests, which were organized by armed Shiite factions close to Iran in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The rallies were held June 8, marking the last Friday in the holy month of Ramadan, to show support for the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation. The Quds Day protests are an annual tradition that started in 1979 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late leader of the Islamic Revolution.
It has been the custom for protesters every year on Quds Day — and other occasions — to trample and burn the Israeli and American flags. This year, however, no American flags were destroyed or burned, and the protests did not include any slogans or threats against the United States.
On June 4, the Fatah Alliance invited several foreign ambassadors for iftar, the nightly fast-breaking meal during Ramadan. Photos from inside the alliance headquarters showed a meeting between alliance leader Hadi al-Amiri and US Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman. Other ambassadors also were present.
It seems Amiri and some other PMU leaders are serious about rapprochement with the United States. This, however, has earned Amiri some criticism. Aws al-Khafaji, the head of the Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas Brigades, made scathing comments against Amiri, saying, “Protesting [against the US Embassy move to] Jerusalem does not go hand in hand with a meeting with the American ambassador.”
Karim al-Nouri, a close Amiri associate, hinted that the PMU’s influential Badr Organization hasn’t ruled out any rapprochement or dialogue with the United States.
“There is no conflict between the PMU or any foreign state. The Jerusalem [Quds] Day is a public celebration, where people are free to express themselves the way they want to,” Nouri told Al-Monitor. “Not destroying the American flag doesn’t suggest good relations. Burning flags during protests doesn’t mean that [Iraq] is on the outs with [the United States]. We only have reservations about Israel.”
On the same day Silliman visited Amiri, he also met with the leader of the State of Law Coalition, Iraqi Vice President Nouri al-Maliki, who more than once has attacked the United States. Maliki is a PMU leader and claims to be its founder.
Silliman’s keenness to meet two PMU “leaders” in a single day is further evidence that the United States has been looking at some PMU principals as possible partners.
The United States doesn’t deal with the PMU as a whole institution, but rather with each faction separately. The United States is closest to Amiri, who in addition to leading the Fatah Alliance also heads the Badr Organization. “Amiri has been in contact with the United States via ongoing meetings in Baghdad,” said Rahman Aljebouri, a senior researcher at the National Endowment for Democracy.
“Both the United States and the factions that seek rapprochement will benefit from such a step. Washington, however, views the factions that have joined the political process and have a long political history to be the closest to it,” Aljebouri told Al-Monitor.
“The relations between the Badr Organization and the Americans have evolved through the ministries of Transport and Interior, which were [part of] Amiri’s party,” he added.
Aljebouri’s suggestion that the United States deals with PMU factions separately is backed up by the US Congress’ stance on the League of the Righteous (Asaib Ahl al-Haq). Though Asaib Ahl al-Haq is part of the PMU, the United States has talked about placing Asaib Ahl al-Haq on its terrorism list.
The Fatah Alliance issued a calm and unprovocative statement June 2 calling on Washington to “reconsider the political map that will give it an appropriate opportunity to establish balanced relations with Iraq.”
Yehya al-Kubaisi, an adviser to the Iraqi Center for Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, “The United States cannot deal with the PMU as a single unit. They [Americans] have always distinguished between what they call good and bad militias. The Badr Organization is under the good category, while the League of the Righteous and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba are categorized as bad. As for Iran, it believes that dealing with the former group of factions better serves its interests.”
He added, “The meeting between the US ambassador and Amiri happened at the same time the United States said it would classify the League of the Righteous and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba as terrorist organizations. This means that Iran and the United States are sending each other messages, using the PMU as a tool to do so.”
As things stand, rapprochement between some PMU leaders and the United States stands to benefit both parties. The United States needs to neutralize Iran’s role in these factions. The PMU, meanwhile, seeks to get rid of elements that might cause it to be categorized as a terrorist group or of having committed human rights violations.
Article Credit: al-monitor.com
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Post RV Checklist (it’s getting to be that time!! Listen up!!)
Dos and Don’ts of Windfall Wealth:
Treat it like a PowerBall win
– Tell no one, not even family. If you must talk, do so with one who is already in the know.
– Don’t run out & buy new “stuff”. People notice.
– Get an unpublished number and give it out very sparingly.
– Get a tax accountant you can trust to make sure the IRS is satisfied (Certified Opinion is something to look into) and pursue asset protection…
Read Complete List: http://www.dinarupdates.com/showthread.php?18519-The-Post-RV-Checklist-and-Flashback-documents&p=128477#post128477
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