October election has seen new faces and unexpected parties to emerge in Iraq. This growth isn’t going well with those backed by militia and Iran as well. Various attacks on prominent political figures are happening rampantly. For one was the house of Parliament Speaker Mohammed Al Halbousi whose house was attacked by rockets. His party Taqadum recently joined forces with Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr’s leading Sadrist Bloc in defiance of threats by Iran-backed parties.
The buck does not stop here. Additionally, there have been attacks on other MPs as well. String of grenade attacks were coupled with a November assassination attempt against Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi, all injuring (if not killing) six individuals.
The attacks come from (suspectedly) all those participants who have lost their chance to get representation post the November cycle of election this year.
Some of Iraq’s biggest Shiite parties, backed by powerful armed paramilitary groups, have rejected the results that were ratified by Iraq’s Supreme Court in November.
Their rival is Mr. Al Sadr, who in the past, has mobilised thousands of militiamen to fight the government and some fear he could mobilise fighters once more to head off challengers.
After mounting failed legal challenges and levelling unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud, there is also the threat to boycott the political process entirely.
Attempts have been made repeatedly on the lives of those coming to forward good governance. Many have also lost their lives. Most are those that would be supporting the administrative office of the PM.
Those suffering are focused on three political parties — two Sunni and one Kurdish, who have suffered grenade attacks on their Baghdad offices in recent weeks.
Tensions continue to build up before the elections come forth. One of Iraq’s Kurdistan leading political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, believes that all sides must reach an understanding about establishing the next government, putting Iraq’s development first. But this wholesome picture of development doesn’t look like something on the cards of the rival parties.