KARBALA: Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has criticised Iraqs lawmakers for disunity and for failing to pick a speaker at this weeks opening session of parliament.
“The failure to elect a head of parliament and their deputies before it adjourned was a regrettable failure,” Sistani’s spokesman Ahmed al-Safi said during a Friday prayer sermon in Karbala.
“The speeding up of forming a government within the constitutional framework with wide national consensus is of the utmost importance,” Safi added.
Sistanis status as the most important religious figure in the country gives him more authority than any given politician and re-emphasises the seriousness of the situation for many Iraqis.
Sistani called on politicians to avoid “mistakes of the past that have grave consequences for the future of the Iraqis.”
Sistani reiterated his call for the government to have “broad national acceptance”, a formulation many officials interpret as a call for Maliki – blamed by Sunnis for marginalising them and worsening ethnic tensions – to go.
The failure highlights growing fears about a potential breakup of Iraq, as the Kurdistan region pushes ever closer to holding an independence referendum.
In a quick reaction Iraqs Sunni Parliamentary Speaker Usama al-Nujayfi said he would make a “self-sacrifice” by not seeking another term in his post.
Nujaifi’s withdrawal is seen as removing a key obstacle to Maliki’s ouster and could break the deadlock.
Deputies need to choose a speaker and then elect a president before they can move on to the formation of a government, and the key question of a possible third term for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Iraq held parliamentary elections at the end of April, but has yet to form a government.
The elections were won by Malikis coalition with 92 seats but it fell short of an overall majority meaning Iraq will be governed by a coalition government.
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