BAGHDAD ? A powerful political bloc led by the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr called on Monday to dissolve the Iraqi Parliament and to hold early elections, a potentially fatal blow to a power-sharing government that has teetered on collapse since American troops withdrew a little more than a week ago.
In a statement posted on its Web site, the Sadrists said scrapping the current government was the only way to steer Iraq out of a deepening political crisis that has put Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a Shiite, at odds with leaders representing the country?s Sunni minority. The statement constitutes the first challenge to Mr. Mailiki from within his Shiite coalition, a sign that even if his government survives, he has been weakened.
?We have a lot of problems,? said Baha al-Araji, a leading lawmaker with the bloc. ?The Americans, when they came to Iraq, they gave power to some blocs and some leaders. And they had power.?
He added: ?We need new elections.?
The move by the Sadrists is not enough to quickly bring down the government but does represent the first crack in the ranks of the country?s Shiite politicians, who have largely supported Mr. Maliki?s government as it has publicly accused Sunni leaders of conspiring with terrorists. It was unclear whether their gambit would go anywhere. The calls for a new election won support from a leading member of the predominately Sunni Iraqiya coalition, one of the prime minister?s main antagonists. But members of other powerful Shiite groups quickly dismissed the calls for a new vote as hollow gamesmanship.
?This is ridiculous,? said Hassoun al-Fatlawi, a member of the Shiite Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. ?The problems we have can be solved, but not this way. Let them sit down together if they really want to solve it.?
Even if the Sadrist proposal won over a majority of Iraqi lawmakers, the group said it would take at least six months to plan another round of elections.
The Sadrist movement provided crucial support to help Mr. Maliki seal a second term after last year?s indecisive elections.
Canny populist political operators, the Sadrists sensed there was opportunity in Iraq?s political upheaval and may simply be trying to exploit the recent turmoil to extend the group?s power, analysts said.
The Sadrists calls for new elections came as violence continued to roil Baghdad. Around 7:30 a.m. on Monday, a car packed with explosives attacked a checkpoint in front of the Ministry of Interior, killing five, including two officers.
That attack occurred just hours after two improvised explosive devices were detonated on Sunday night in the predominately Sunni area of Abu Ghraib, which is policed mainly by Shiite security officers. Four officers were killed in that attack and four others were wounded, officials said.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks but they were similar to others conducted by Al Qaeda in Iraq, the insurgent group accused of trying to plunge the country back into a sectarian conflict by pitting Sunnis and Shiites against one another.
Amid the political turmoil and violence, Iraq appeared to be moving closer to unwinding a standoff between the government and 3,400 Iranian dissidents living at a camp in eastern Iraq.
Under the deal announced late Sunday night by the United Nations office in Baghdad, the members of the People?s Mujahedeen of Iran would leave Camp Ashraf, in Diyala Province in eastern Iraq, and move to a former American military base near Baghdad?s international airport.
The exiles are members of a paramilitary group that has tried to topple Iran?s government and is listed as a terrorist group by the United States. They were given refuge by Saddam Hussein during his war with Iran, but the current Iraqi government, with closer ties to Iran, has vowed to dismantle the outpost, known as Camp Ashraf, by the end of the year.
Mr. Maliki, who fled to Iran to escape a death warrant under Mr. Hussein, gave the group a six-month extension last week, suggesting some hope of resolving the situation.
The United Nations refugee agency will to relocate the residents to other countries, most likely as refugees. American officials and United Nations diplomats hailed the deal as a major step that could prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and avert a head-on confrontation between the camp?s residents and the Iraqi security forces stationed just outside its perimeter. In April, dozens of people inside Ashraf were killed after the Iraqi Army raided the camp.
The United Nations said it had spoken extensively with the camp?s residents about the relocation, but it was unclear whether they would accept the deal. A spokesman for the camp said in a telephone interview on Monday that its residents had yet to see the terms of the formal agreement signed by the Iraqi government and United Nations, and did not know whether it would offer adequate security guarantees.
?The most important thing is the protection of the lives of the 3,400 people at the camp,? said Shahriar Kia, the spokesman. ?That?s the main priority.?
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1494364869aa2c71f9a87b3e66d43cbe
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