The battle between al-Maliki and al-Halbousi explodes the alliance of sovereignty
The war of settling scores waged by the leader of the State of Law bloc, Nuri al-Maliki, against Speaker of Parliament Muhammad al-Halbousi is approaching its end after the collapse of the Sovereignty Alliance that brings together the Taqaddam Party led by al-Halbousi and the Azm Alliance headed by Khamis al-Khanjar, and the withdrawal of five deputies from the Taqaddam Party.
At that time, one of the first things that Al-Suleiman said in the attack on Al-Halbousi was that “after Anbar suffered from projects of extremism and terrorism and turned into a stage of domination, dictatorship, silencing mouths and corruption, we announce to them from Baghdad that these actions will be met with a reaction that the owners of the projects of normalization and division and those who stole rights would not expect.” component, and whoever claims leadership must understand that this is the last chance.”
And the leader of the Progressive Party, Representative Haibat al-Halbousi, announced the imminent end of the Sovereignty Coalition, due to the coalition partners’ non-compliance with national covenants and constants, referring to the Coalition of Resolve, adding that “the reasons behind the near end of the Sovereignty Coalition are the primacy of the personal interests of most of the political partners in the coalition.” The coalition, and the deviation of many of them from political agreements, in addition to attempts to split the political ranks, whether in the House of Representatives or in the provinces that we represent.
Maliki loyalists and opponents of al-Halbousi say that monopolizing power and making decisions without returning to the rest of the political parties or belonging to one party and allied together are the most prominent reasons that prompted some parties within the Sovereignty Alliance to leave this alliance and announce their defection from it.
The deputies who decided to break with Al-Halbousi’s leadership from the Taqaddam party are Falah Al-Zaidan, Latif Al-Warshan, Adel Al-Mahlawi, and Youssef Al-Sabawi.
Along with the emir of the Dulaim tribes, Sheikh Abu Risha emerged as one of the new opponents of Al-Halbusi, as he considered that Anbar was “enslaved” by him
The crisis began in the Sovereignty Coalition after MP Raad al-Dahlaki withdrew from the coalition, and Laith al-Dulaimi “accepted the resignation” of the membership of the House of Representatives, amid accusations of the Speaker of Parliament abusing his position to target his critics.
While the coalition announced that “the departure of any deputy, member, or cadre from among the ranks of its two parties in Taqadum or the Arab Project, is a definitive departure from the ranks of the coalition,” however, the leader of Azm Mishaan al-Jubouri coalition said that this statement does not express sovereignty, Because it is issued only by Al-Halbousi and not by Al-Khanjar, and he is the only one authorized to make decisions according to his internal system approved by the Commission. Al-Jubouri accused Al-Halbousi of kidnapping the Sunni component and turning it into a means of gains for himself and those around him.
“The defections that always occur, whether at the level of sovereignty or political blocs, for many deputies come because of the uniqueness of the head of the bloc in decisions and positions,” said the representative of the State of Law, Muhammad al-Saihoud. He added, “Al-Halbousi works with well-known regional agendas that do not serve the interests of Iraq, as it has become better to remove him from office and nominate another alternative figure for him to head Parliament, especially since there is a rejection by the Sunni house of the continuation of this figure in power.”
Al-Maliki seeks, by liquidating the influence of Al-Halbousi, to remove him as the leader of the Sunni bloc, in favor of fragmentations distributed between tribal alliances, small competing parties, and opposing and warring personalities among themselves, but their survival can be guaranteed alongside the coordination framework, of which Al-Maliki is the most prominent leader.
Al-Halbousi’s alliance with Muqtada al-Sadr was the turning point that prompted al-Maliki to decide to seek his removal from the Sunni political map, just as Osama al-Nujaifi, Speaker of Parliament, was removed between 2010 and 2014.
As for al-Maliki himself, he had previously considered the Taqaddam Party a face of the Baath Party. And he was heard in the famous audio leak of him saying that “the Shiites are in danger, because the Baathists have now risen to dangerous ranks, entered the core of the state, and established parties under the title ‘Progress’, which is led by Muhammad al-Halbousi, an old party, established by one of the personalities, but he died Al-Halbousi received it after him.
Al-Halbousi, for his part, tried to win over some of his opponents. He succeeded in sponsoring a tribal reconciliation between the Emir of the Dulaim tribes and the head of the Awakening Conference in Anbar Province.
However, this attempt did not escape criticism, as the leader of the Azm coalition, Faisal Al-Shawka, said that Al-Halbousi is trying to win over tribal sheikhs by distributing positions, while Anbar province suffers from marginalization and lack of services and infrastructure due to the Al-Halbousi party’s mismanagement of the city.
Observers say that the war against al-Halbousi is not limited to personal revenge for a situation that almost threatens the survival of the coordination framework, but also aims to fragment the Sunni component to ensure that it remains weak and so that it is possible to win over some of its parties and not others.
And they add that with the disintegration of the sovereignty alliance and the emergence of new competitors, the ground on which al-Halbousi stands becomes in a state of cracks, which makes him weak even if he succeeds in remaining as a secondary party among other Sunni parties.
Rawabetcenter.com