The New York Times: Abadi is popular but does not have a specific vision of the election

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The New York Times: Abadi is popular but does not have a specific vision of the election


The New York Times reported that in just three years, Prime Minister Haider Abadi rebuilt the army when he defeated a militant organization and managed to restore sovereignty to his country, even though many likened him to US President Abraham Lincoln.
Despite the warnings, the stability of the country remains fragile as it confronts the violent sectarian threats among the Shiite and Sunni populations, as well as the endemic government corruption, not to mention the overwhelming economic despair, especially among millions of homeless .

In the past two weeks, for example, ahead of the May 12 election deadline, the prime minister has stumbled into a coalition that is entering the election strongly.
In fact, it has been more than three months and everything is in place, even though he is now the most popular politician in Iraq, but he continues to make deals to join influential factions to win him.
"Abadi has a fine line to walk on, although he is popular among many Iraqis, but he also has dangerous enemies," says analyst Reynad Mansour at the Chatham House Institute.
Despite what is seen as an achievement by Abadi, he does not lead his party, the Islamic call, making his political position precarious. The leader of the party remains al-Maliki despite his volatile political past, but he is the leader of the party and this may pave the way for his return to power.
For example, Maliki was able to prevent Abadi from using party resources in his campaign.
Abadi set up his own alliance, the Alliance of Victory, which was initially welcomed when he attracted the popular crowd. But with their withdrawal, Abbadi allied with dozens of politicians from various sectarian lines, giving his aides confidence to enter the election season.
Iraq's postwar constitution retains the status of Shi'ite prime minister. Analysts say that given the country's electoral history and the three coalition governments that have emerged since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Abadi needs an alliance with at least one of the three main powers to win.
Politicians close to Abadi and during unannounced talks with Sadr's followers about joining them with a possible alliance, the Sadrists say their leader is angry with Abbadi. Even Abadi's closest advisers now realize that the alliance with the armed factions was a serious tactical mistake, which he attributes to the overwhelming task of creating a new political entity at short notice.
"We did not have the time to finalize our main partners, and we are discussing all these things now," said Ali al-Adeeb, a member of the Iraqi parliament close to Abadi.
Hassan Hassan, author of anti-terrorism, says in an article published in the National newspaper in Abu Dhabi that "the latest developments, is undermining the view in Washington, that Abadi is a bulwark against the forces of sectarianism."
Others say it is too early to predict these expectations in advance, given Iraq's unstable and unpredictable climate of security. One way Abadi can boost his reputation, particularly among Iraqi Sunnis, is his performance at a conference of international donors next month, whose government hopes to attract hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to rebuild destroyed Sunni cities during military operations against a militant organization.


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