Abadi hints alliance imminent with Sadr to form “technocrat” Iraqi govt

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has given another signal of an imminent alliance with Shia populist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, pointing to matching viewpoints regarding the formation of the next Iraqi government.

Speaking during his weekly press briefing in Baghdad, Abasi said his recent meeting with Sadr witnessed “concurrence in relation to the next period”.

According to Abadi, “there is an almost complete matching of viewpoints with the Saeroon list for the formation of a strong technocrat government”.

Abadi was received by Sadr on Saturday in Baghdad, where both exchanged views on the formation of the government after the end of parliamentary elections on 12th of this month.

The Iraqi elections commission said last Saturday that Sadr’s list came first, followed by al-Fatah, an alliance of former leaders of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces, and third came Abadi’s al-Nasr list.

Sadr and Abadi, during their electoral campaigns, have been touting a government transcending sectarian considerations and free from foreign interventions.