BAGHDAD, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi judiciary Tuesday decided to suspend its activities after supporters of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr held a sit-in here to demand the dissolution of the Iraqi parliament.
A statement by the judiciary said that the suspension came after the Supreme Judicial Council and Federal Supreme Court held a meeting earlier in the day to discuss the ongoing protest, which was held to pressure the federal court into dissolving the parliament.
The latest sit-in by al-Sadr supporters came as disputes escalated in the past weeks between al-Sadr and his rivals from the Coordination Framework, an umbrella group of Shiite parliamentary parties.
On Aug. 3, al-Sadr urged his followers to continue their sit-in until their demands for dissolving the parliament and holding early elections are met.
The Coordination Framework became the largest alliance in the Iraqi parliament after al-Sadr ordered his followers in the Sadrist Movement, the biggest winner of the elections held on Oct. 10, 2021, with 73 seats, to withdraw from the parliament.
In recent months, the continued disputes among the Shiite parties have hampered the formation of a new Iraqi government, making it unable to elect a new president by a two-thirds majority of the 329-seat parliament under the constitution.
If elected, the president will appoint the prime minister nominated by the largest alliance in the parliament, now the Coordination Framework, to form a new government that would rule the country for the next four years. ■
