Political parties declare allegiance to Abd al-Mahdi amid anger
Prime
Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi's failure to complete the government since he took
post in past October has triggered wide anger among people and officials,
who described the Shiite premier's reluctance as "weakness."
On October 24, Abd al-Mahdi managed to get the parliamentary
approval on 14 out of 22 ministries. However disagreement between political
blocs especially on security ministries have thwarted Abd al-Mahdi's efforts to
complete the cabinet in a short time.
This pushed political parties and people to think that the quota
system has become even more rampant during Abd al-Mahdi's term.
MP Ihsan al-Shibli of Nasr Alliance, which has turned to
opposition recently, said that the government gets its last chance to implement
its program or it will be sacked.
Although many people on social media have expressed such anger,
members of many political parties denied intentions to overthrow Abd al-Mahdi's
government, including Nasr Alliance headed by former Prime Minister Haidar
al-Abadi.
Nasr Alliance
An
MP of Nasr Alliance said on Sunday that turning to the opposition does not mean
targeting the government of Abd al-Mahdi and seeking to bring it down.
In
press remarks, Seham Shannon said that her party has joined the opposition to
assess the government's performance and strictly monitor the implementation of
the government program approved by the parliament members.
"The most important reason that led us to the opposition is
the reluctance of the government to implement its program, especially in the field
of [limiting]
unemployment, which has become the most serious phenomenon in our
society," Shannon added.
The
Nasr MP accused the government of "not paying attention to the reopening
of the halted projects and factories, which the government promised [to reopen]
in its government program during the first months."
Saairun
A
Saairun Alliance MP denied on Sunday any intentions of her party to overthrow
the government of Abd al-Mahdi, noting that it works to support and strengthen
the government.
Saairun
aims to "support the government of Abd al-Mahdi, work on strengthening it
and correcting the mistakes of the past," MP Anam Khuzaie said, adding:
"if there had been an intention of Saairun to overthrow Abd al-Mahdi
secretly, it (the party) would have [worked] on it from the first days."
Khuzaie
said that the program of Saairun Alliance "is based on the basis of
building the state properly," stressing that "this does not mean to
turn a blind eye to corruption or a defect that exists in whatever
ministry."