On Sunday, nearly three months after the general elections, Iraq’s new parliament held its first session. A powerful Iran-backed bloc contested the results of the polls. Iraq’s parliament elected the new speaker for the second time, undoubtedly a first step to forming a new government.
Because of ongoing tensions across the nation, the first parliament meeting witnessed chaos on Sunday. Amid the disarray, a veteran member of the Parliament, Mohmoud al-Mashhadani, was rushed to the hospital, apparently because of stress.
There are reports that the chaotic meeting was likely erupted due to lengthy political wrangling among rival groups over choosing a new prime minister and new president as Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, the established politician, formed a new government.
However, he has to manage the tensions between Shia groups and rivals. The rival groups have been demanding a say in the government formation process and continuously reject election results.
As per Iraq’s constitution, the demand has been raised because the right to choose the new prime minister is given to the most prominent political bloc in parliament.
As the meeting commenced on Sunday, an alliance known as the Shia Coordination Framework, which has objected to the vote results, submitted a list of lawmakers’ names which holds the biggest parliamentary bloc in Iraq, rather than al-Sadr.
The parliamentary proceeding was closed interrupted as the chaos erupted in the chamber when the legislator crowded around the session leader, al-Mashhadani. Within a few minutes, the 73-year-old legislator was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance as he suffered from stress. As per the reports, the senior leader was visited by some of the militia and political factions heads.
According to the visitors, he is recovering well and is in a good state.
After all this disruption, the parliamentary session was resumed after an hour or two, though the issues exhibited by the majority were not resolved immediately.