Iraqi PM al-Abadi announces ant-corruption and cost-cutting measu

Iraq has three vice presidents, two Shiites and a Sunni, and three deputy prime ministers, a Shiite, a Sunni and a Kurd.

Consequently, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Bahaa al-Araji resigned shortly after Abbadi’s announcement.

Al-Abadi’s plan would reduce spending on personal bodyguards for officials and transfer the responsibility to the Interior and Defense Ministries, which would have their budgets expanded. Despite near-daily bombings and attacks in Baghdad, the square has been the scene of peaceful protests in recent days over frequent power cuts during a heat wave that has seen temperatures reach as high as 52 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit).

Abadi also called for a major overhaul of the way senior officials are selected, saying that all “party and sectarian quotas” should be abolished, and the candidates chosen by a committee appointed by the premier. Iraqis have good reason to feel aggrieved and to demand an end to cronyism and corruption – and Mr Al Abadi must hear them and act in the country’s interests.

Demonstrators who gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on Sunday night praised Abadi’s measures, but warned that if they are not implemented, the protests will carry on. When the Islamic State captured Mosul and other cities last summer, many Sunnis there initially welcomed the extremists as liberators. But at the same time, his bloc warned “of the formation of a new dictatorship that puts all authority in one person’s hand”.

“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.

A plan for additional reforms in addition to Abadi’s will be discussed in parliament on Tuesday. Sistani called for the prime minister to “strike with an iron fist” at the entrenched corruption within the government. “I renew my support for reforms required by the political process and guided by supreme religious authority [Sistani]”.

Haider al-Abbadi proposes decree cancelling the roles, vowing to tackle corruption and cut costs amid national protests. Maliki now serves as one of the country’s vice presidents.

In acting so decisively, al-Abadi strengthened his position in Iraq’s political scene, but analysts note that power also lies with an assortment of Shiite militias and their leaders, including Hadi al-Ameri, who leads the Badr Organization and has close ties to Iran.

Iraq is embroiled in a battle with Islamic State militants who have seized wide swathes of the country and displaced more than 3 million.

Al-Abadi’s proposal includes aiming to limit financial and administrative corruption, relieving the burden on the Iraqi treasury and providing some money to pay the delayed salaries of governmental employees. In July, more than 1,300 Iraqis were killed because of the violence, the United Nations said.

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.