After Sadr's visit .. Reveal a Saudi plan to form an electoral alliance that prevents the arrival of

After Sadr's visit .. Reveal a Saudi plan to form an electoral alliance that prevents the arrival of the crowd to rule

The political scene Thursday, August 03 2017



The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Arab reported on Thursday that the Popular Gathering factions had held a meeting on their political future in light of the opening of the government of Prime Minister Haider Abadi to Saudi Arabia.

"Senior Iranian officials have visited Iraq over the past few days to prepare an assessment of the map of competition during the parliamentary elections scheduled for April 2018," the paper quoted unnamed Iraqi sources as saying.

According to the newspaper, "a Shiite electoral confrontation between a moderate axis including Abadi, Sadr and Hakim, and another axis includes the leader of a coalition of state law, Nuri al-Maliki with the leaders of the popular crowd, during the 2018 ballot, will not be safe results for Iran."

"If Iran does not succeed this time in rallying Shiite forces, or most of them in one alliance, as it used to do during the 2018 elections, it will try, at least, to prevent the Shiites who are out of its fold from joining the bloc in one bloc," said an Iraqi politician. "He said.

According to the report, observers expect the Shiite political forces to go to the 2018 elections alone, to postpone major alliances until after the elections.

He pointed out that Tehran is working quickly to fill the leaders of the popular crowd and merged with Maliki's coalition in an electoral alliance, to include a Shiite parliamentary bloc capable of demanding the post of prime minister if required.

Political figures close to Iran do not hesitate to talk about their expectations of the great US and Gulf support Abadi could get during the upcoming elections.

However, an Iraqi political observer considered the Shiite parties, which seek to establish a distance between them and Iran, the most vulnerable and least tricky level of political maneuver, although it is the most popular, according to the Arabs.

"After al-Sadr's recent visit to Saudi Arabia, the talk among pro-Iranian Iraqi politicians about Gulf funds has begun to boost Sadr's fortunes in the elections," the newspaper said.

"With the expected visit by al-Hakim to Saudi Arabia, the talk may be much greater than a moderate Shiite front in Iraq facing the Iranian axis"

Salah al-Obeidi, spokesman for the Sadrist movement, expects that the large parliamentary blocs will disintegrate during the upcoming elections, and new parties will come to the fore.

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