Iraqi Shiite leader Sadr to sit out October election
Muqtada al-Sadr also said he would withdraw his support for the current government and its replacement.
Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr says he will boycott Iraq’s upcoming general election, announcing that he is withdrawing support from the current and future governments.
“In order to preserve what is left of the nation and to save the nation that has been burnt by the corrupt and is still burning, I inform you that I will not be participating in the elections. For the nation is more important than all of that,” Sadr said in a televised speech on Thursday.
“I announce that I am withdrawing my hand from all those who are working with this government, the current and the upcoming, even if they had allegiance to us, the family of Sadr,” he said.
Sadr commands the powerful Sairoon political bloc, which won the most seats in the last parliamentary election in 2018. Sadr himself doesn’t hold a position in the government, but wields significant influence in Iraqi politics. He is a fervent critic of US interference in Iraq.
