Al-Sadr faction quits Shia bloc in parliament

Iraq:The parliamentary faction loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced yesterday that it had no intention of toppling Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, although the Sadrists withdrew from the ruling Shia parliamentary bloc on Saturday.

Sadrist spokesman Saleh al-Obeidi said the faction had withdrawn because the Shia-Kurdish alliance was taking decisions without consulting other factions.

The departure of the Sadrists leaves the Shia United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), formed ahead of the 2005 election, with 57 safe seats in the 275-member parliament. The UIA originally had 138 seats and comprised four factions - Mr Maliki's Dawa, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), the Sadrists and Fadhila, plus independents. Fadhila defected last March.

In August Mr Maliki's Dawa, with 27 seats, and SIIC, with 30, formed a new alliance with the two main Kurdish parties, giving the front 110-115 seats. But this is far short of a majority and puts the government at risk from no confidence motions.

Mr Sadr withdrew his six ministers from the cabinet in April but remained within the UIA. The Sadrists took this action because the government had failed to deliver electricity, water, jobs, security and healthcare to Iraqis. The Sadrists also demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

Mr Maliki has been unable to replace Sadrist and Sunni ministers, who subsequently resigned, and has been trying to govern with only 20 ministers out of the 37 appointed in May 2006.

The Sadrists abandoned Mr Maliki shortly after the overall US commander in Iraq Gen David Petraeus and ambassador Ryan Crocker told Congress a substantial number of US troops would have to remain in Iraq over the long run if the country was to be stabilised. From the first days of the occupation, Mr Sadr has been demanding full withdrawal of foreign forces from the country. In 2004 his Mahdi army militia fought US troops in Najaf and Baghdad, and in recent months Sadrist militiamen have been attacking US forces in and around the capital as well as British forces in the south.

Mr Sadr's party is the only Shia faction with a mass following.

It is an independent, Arab, Iraqi nationalist movement that not only opposes the US presence in Iraq but also Iranian influence and interference in the country's affairs. Dawa and SIIC are closely connected to Tehran and dependent on US military muscle to remain in power.

The defection of the Sadrists could deprive the rump UIA of whatever mass popular backing the bloc has enjoyed. However, analysts suggest the Sadrists' defection could provide an opportunity for the government to crack down on the unruly Mahdi army, seen by the US as a major threat to Iraq's stability.