Baghdad on Aug.6 : The supporters of the influential Iraqi religious leader Moqtada al-Sadr held mass prayers in Baghdad’s secured Green Zone, in a demonstration of power that aims to ensure that parliamentary elections are held before the end of the year.According to the participants the hundreds of thousands of people participated in the Friday prayer, which took place in temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius according to DPA news agency.
The previous Wednesday, al-Sadr called for a parliamentary election earlier and urged his supporters to continue their sit-in protest in the Green Zone.
“Iraq has been made the prisoner of corruption,”” mohannad al-Mousawi, a cleric from the region addressed the worshipers during the prayers and reiterated the demands of al-Sadr.
The Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad al-Halbousi also said he supports calls for an early parliamentary and local election.
The protests are just the latest episode in the political impasse in Iraq regarding the appointment of a new Prime Minister after the parliamentary elections of October.
Protests erupted after al-Sadr did not support the premiership nomination that was proposed by his rival the Coordination Framework political alliance.
The candidate the former Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, is considered to be close to the rival of al-Sadr the former premier, who is backed by Iran Nouri al-Maliki.
Al-Maliki is the head of the State of Law coalition, which is a significant force in the Coordination Framework.
In the early hours of Friday, UN special envoy for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, visited al-Sadr.They talked about “the necessity of coming up with solutions for the numerous issues that confront Iraq”.
