Iraqi PM Proposes Major Reforms In Response To Protests

After weeks of protests demanding better government and a call by leading Shi’ite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for tougher action, Abadi proposed cancelling Iraq’s multiple vice president and deputy prime minister positions, now shared out along sectarian lines.

On Sunday, the cabinet backed the prime minister’s proposal, which appeared to be an attempt to seize on the protests to reverse months of criticism of his rule and portray himself as more responsive than other politicians to the anger of ordinary Iraqis.

Abadi’s move came after massive demonstrations in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and several other cities in south to protest against slack public services, power shortage, and massive corruption.

Old corruption cases would be reopened, he said, with judges known for their “untainted integrity” appointed to oversee the fight against corruption.

The parliamentary bloc of Shiite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr, of which Araji is a member, welcomed Al Abadi’s decree, lawmaker Ameer Al Kinani said in a statement.

Iraq ranked 170 of 175 countries in Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index. The results have manifested over al-Abadi’s yr in workplace, with the fallout starting from worsening electrical energy issues to the federal government’s failure to maintain up with finances funds to the semi-autonomous Kurdish authorities.

Baghdad’s heavy-handed response to the country’s most recent protest movement-by Sunni Arabs demonstrating against their marginalisation by authorities-helped set the stage for the jihadist takeover of a third of the country previous year.

Abadi’s political rival – former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki – is now a vice president.

Maliki, a Shiite hard-liner who led Iraq from 2006 until last year, was blamed for exacerbating sectarian tensions and turning Iraq’s multitude of security organizations into little more than anti-Sunni militias.

The reforms package calls for elimination of the posts of vice president and deputy prime minister immediately. But some observers accuse Maliki of seeking to undermine Abadi’s administration, an allegation dismissed by Maliki.

Sistani, who is revered by millions of Iraqis, called Friday for Abadi to take “drastic measures” against corruption, saying that the “minor steps” he had announced were not enough.

Former Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki also insisted Monday his Dawaa political party would support Abadi’s reform plan, but he called for a new government of technocrats to replace the current government.

“He must be more daring and courageous in his reforms”, Ahmed al-Safi, a representative of the reclusive Sistani, said in a sermon delivered in the shrine city of Karbala.

The terrorist group claims as an independent state the territory of Iraq and Syria, with implied future claims intended over more of the Levant, including Lebanon, occupied Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus, and Southern Turkey.

While the plunge in oil prices and the battle against Islamic State militants are depleting the government’s coffers, many Iraqis say corruption is compounding the nation’s economic woes.