The scene of the entry of the new deputies into the Iraqi parliament was full of excitement. The representatives of the Sadrist bloc wore shrouds, and the Kurdish deputies chose to enter in their traditional clothes, while the deputies of the “Techrian” extension bloc decided to come to the session in tuk-tuks.
Baghdad The scene of the new parliament’s entry into the new Iraqi parliament session was full of excitement, as described by some Iraqis. The Sadrist bloc’s representatives wore shrouds bearing the slogans of the “Mahdi Army,” and the Kurdish representatives chose to enter in their traditional clothes, while the representatives of the “Octoberian” extension bloc decided to come. To the session by “tuk-tuk” carts from Tahrir Square (central Baghdad) to the council building, in reference to its role during the days of the protest demonstrations in late 2019.
The “Extension” movement, which emerged from the protests, managed to win 9 seats in the new parliament, after its decision to participate in the legislative elections that were held on the tenth of last October, at a time when other “Nocturnal” forces announced a boycott.
real opposition
The leader in “Extension” Ghassan Al-Shabib told Al-Jazeera Net that the movement is trying to establish a real parliamentary work through oversight and legislation, and at the forefront of its goals is the enactment of laws that serve society and the public interest and unify the “Iraqi identity”, and exercise strict and precise control over state-building by monitoring all violations, on limit saying.
He added that his movement wants to build a real opposition that the current Iraqi regime did not know, to stand against the quotas on which the political process was based, and to build a cross-sectarian experience.
The movement says that it is also seeking to reformulate the Iraqi constitution, change the form of the system to presidential or semi-presidential, eliminate sectarian and ethnic divisions and enhance the concept of citizenship.
Al-Shabib expects that the presence of representatives of Tishreen will double in the next parliament, and this is related to the work and achievement of the parliamentary bloc to extend, “away from quotas, brokerage and nepotism, especially after restoring the Iraqi people’s confidence in the political process, and fighting the factors of frustration and inability to change, which were promoted by some traditional parties.” .
Banned until further notice
The election winners are betting that their participation will differ from the experience of the Civil Democratic Alliance, which presented itself as a representative of the protesters against the political process taking place in Iraq in the 2014 elections, and won 3 seats, but was widely criticized by its audience, due to its inability to change the rules The political game, or the fulfillment of the aspirations of its voters.
The participation of the forces emanating from Tishreen in the parliamentary elections sparked controversy among supporters of the protest movement, some of them considered it useless in light of the disarmament and the continuation of population displacement and enforced absence, while the participants defended their decision by saying that the political equation has changed after the protests, and it is possible to work on changing Really seriously.
Forces from Tishreen announced a boycott of the recent parliamentary elections; Foremost among them is the National House Party, which described the current political process in a previous statement as “the worst system of government that Iraq has witnessed since the establishment of the modern Iraqi state in 1921.”
Member of the General Secretariat of the National House, Ahmed al-Hamdani, believes that the reasons put forward by the party and called for a boycott of the elections still exist, foremost of which is the continued control and control of some forces that are pressing to reach power through violence and weapons.
But he adds that this boycott does not preclude coordination and cooperation with any party that wants to serve Iraq and extricate it from its reality, especially those who support October and wish for real reform, as he put it.
He points out that the challenges that October parliamentarians will face inside the parliament are great, and that the most important step that should be taken is to activate the role of the “real representative” that Iraqis have missed for 19 years, and to seek to pass laws that fulfill the people’s demands in development and reconstruction and hold the corrupt and those involved in violence and assassinations accountable. .
Between ambition and reality
Observers believe that the task of the Tishreen forces in Parliament will not be easy, and that many political battles will await them.
The writer and political analyst Maher Al-Hamdani expects that the performance of these forces will be loud and strong at first, but “they will soon understand the parliamentary game, which is that individual representatives have no value in the parliament, and their journey will begin to search for consensus and alliances, and then they will return to tweet within the flock at the end.” the end.”
He adds to Al Jazeera Net that the parliamentary work in this session will be different by all standards, due to the combination of a set of factors; Most notably, the presence of representatives of forces opposing the entire political system, which bear a strong will to change the traditional political equations, and this coincides with the erosion and collapse of those equations, and major transformations in the regional and international arenas, as he put it.
As for their priorities, al-Hamdani is likely that they will work to fight corruption, but their success in this task depends on many factors, the most important of which is the shape of the next government and its balances.
He believes that it is too early to judge their experience and anticipate its future or its repercussions on the upcoming elections, but the Tishreen audience is present, and it is a young age group that will gain the right to vote more broadly after 4 years, and then this group will be represented in parliament in one way or another, regardless of the performance of the current MPs.
As for the fruits of this experience, Al-Hamdani believes that it will add new spirit, blood and ideas, as the “Tishrinaries” are attached to their masses and are close to the ideas and dreams of young people, and this will represent a factor of pressure and control for the performance of this force, and it will benefit and improve parliamentary performance in general.