Thursday, August 09, 2007
Jaafari to declare formation of new political front
Politics
(Al-Hayat) - Former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Ja'fari is set to declare the formation of a new political front that will challenge Prime Minister al-Maliki's position, the London-based "Al-Hayat" reported on August 7. Sources told the daily that the front, which will reportedly be called the National Reform Grouping, will push to replace the parliamentary system with a presidential-parliamentary system similar to the French system, giving greater power to the presidency.
According to "Al-Hayat," al-Ja'fari has refused to acknowledge the results of the Al-Da'wah Party conference in May that elected al-Maliki secretary-general of the party. Since that time, al-Ja'fari has been working to distance his wing of the Al-Da'wah Party from al-Maliki's. Al-Ja'fari's new front will seek to contest upcoming governorate elections separately from the Al-Da'wah Party, the United Iraqi Alliance, and the soon-to-be-announced Moderates Front.
Al-Ja'fari claims that several other parties will be joining his grouping, including the Iraqi Islamic Party, representatives of the Al-Sadr trend, the National Congress Party, Al-Fadilah Party, the Union of Iraq's Turkomans Party, the Turkoman Democratic Party, and the National Democratic Movement. He also boasts of support from Sunni, Shi'ite, and Kurdish tribes and veteran secular political forces, as well as neighboring states, the sources said.
Labels: Dawa party, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Moderates Front, National Reform Grouping, Nouri Al-Maliki, United Iraqi Alliance
