Iraqi Shiite cleric gained ground with nationalist voice
In the years following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the young
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr burst onto the scene as a renegade champion of
poorer Shiites, leading militant fighters who carried out deadly attacks
on American forces and were notorious for sectarian killings against
Sunni Muslims.
Now al-Sadr appears set to secure the most significant victory of his
political career after a strong showing in parliament elections held
over the weekend.
It is the latest stage in al-Sadr's political evolution. In recent
years, he has gained popularity as a nationalist voice, opposing Iranian
influence and waging a public campaign against corruption. For this
election, he ran a non-sectarian campaign focused on issues of social
justice, allying with secularists and Iraq's communist party, and
broadening support beyond his traditional base.
"We are moving to a free and independent Iraq," al-Sadr said just before
Saturday's voting in a televised address from his office in the Shiite
city of Najaf. "We are going to move to an Iraq safe from corruption,
terrorism and militias."
He warned that if there were manipulation and fraud in the election, "we
will make the earth quake beneath the feet of the cheaters and
corrupt."
Partial election returns announced Sunday showed al-Sadr's political
alliance as the current front-runner, leading in four provinces,
including Baghdad. An alliance of candidates linked to Iraq's powerful
paramilitary groups appears set to come in second with Iraqi Prime
Minister Haider al-Abadi trailing in third.
Al-Sadr himself did not run for parliament and so cannot be a candidate
for the prime minister's post. But a significant number of seats for his
movement would give him a strong voice in building the next government.
Muqtada al-Sadr has dipped in and out of Iraqi politics for over a
decade, repeatedly reinventing himself. But he has consistently
leveraged a deep popular appeal, closely tied to his lineage as well as
his personal achievements and demands of his base.
Born to a prominent family of Shiite clerics, al-Sadr's relative Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr was executed by Saddam Hussein in 1980. In 1999, al-Sadr's father Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr was shot dead along with two of his sons in Najaf.
After the 2003 invasion, Muqtada al-Sadr led an uprising against the
presence of U.S. forces in the country. His core support in Baghdad
lives in Sadr City, a sprawling, poor, Shiite dominated neighborhood on
the capital's edge renamed after the cleric's family following the
overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
His militia, known as the Mahdi Army, battled repeatedly over the years with U.S. and Iraqi government
forces in Baghdad and around Shiite holy sites in the south. It also
participated in some of Iraq's most violent sectarian blood-letting; its
fighters were accused kidnapping, torture and killings of Sunnis.
Throughout that time, his movement participated in elections, sometimes
holding places in successive governments. Al-Sadr always showed his
ability to mobilize millions, whether for political rallies or for
elections.
Following the fall of Mosul to the Islamic State group in 2014, he
resurrected his militia under a new name — the Peace Brigades — to fight
the militants.
His forces were largely sidelined in the battle, even as other militia
commanders were propelled to new heights of power. Militias with closer
ties to Iran such as the Badr Brigades, Asaib Ahl Haq and Kataib
Hezbollah were flooded with munitions, supplies and dispatched to high
profile battles from Iraq's far west to the country's north.
Al-Sadr's forces maintained their own chain of command and were as a
result delegated to largely operate in the city of Samarra, north of
Baghdad, with the duty of protecting one of Shiite Islam's holiest
shrines.
In 2016 al-Sadr remerged as a central figure in Iraq's political scene
by taking a lead role in the anti-government protest movement that
bubbled up amid a deepening economic crisis as the war against IS
dragged on. Al-Abadi's efforts to address demands for better government
services and greater employment prospects have been stymied by political
gridlock in Baghdad.
In April of that year, al-Sadr rallied thousands of supporters who stormed Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone
to demand political reforms. The protests rocked Baghdad and forced
al-Abadi to pull troops from the frontline against IS back to the
capital to secure the city's streets.
While many observers expected al-Abadi to win votes by campaigning on
his role overseeing the military defeat of IS in Iraq, al-Sadr tapped
into long-simmering frustration with Baghdad's inability to improve the
lives Iraqis far from the frontline fight.
"After security improved, (Iraqis in Baghdad) began to notice how shabby
the city is and the lack of utilities and the general failure of
government to reconstruct anything since 2003," said Patrick Cockburn, a
journalist for The Independent who wrote a 2008 book on al-Sadr and
interviewed him a number of times.
The physical evidence of those government failures is readily visible in
Sadr City. Tangles of electrical wires hang from the crumbling facades
of dusty store-fronts and narrow, overcrowded homes. Bright blue banners
for al-Sadr's election alliance jostle for space along streets lined
with martyr posters and images of al-Sadr and his father.
"From the beginning Sadr was always underestimated by both Iraqis and
foreigners," Cockburn explained. "But in previous elections the
organization of the Sadrists has always been pretty impressive, they've
always been good at elections."
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Associated Press reporters Philip Issa and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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