Three political issues dominate the new year agenda

Iraq’s political elite have begun the new year with three key items on the agenda, the most important of which is the formation of the new provincial governments. Another pressing issue is the election of the new speaker of parliament, which is expected to happen soon. Meanwhile, the future of the Coalition presence in Iraq remains an ongoing point of contention that has escalated since the January 4 killing of the Nujaba commander.

The Coordination Framework met on January 8 to discuss these three issues. Although no statement was released, reports suggest that agreement was reached on changing all the existing provincial governors. What this means in reality is that where the Coordination Framework holds a majority of provincial council seats, they will seek to elect a new governor.

This is significant because there has been much debate over whether it would be wise to retain some of the existing Sadrist-backed governors, such as the governors of Maysan and Najaf, in order to placate Muqtada Al-Sadr. But it appears that the Coordination Framework is intent on replacing them all.

Secondly, there is a real desire to take over the provinces where governors from rival parties performed well in the election, namely the governors of Basra, Karbala and Wasit. Iraq Horizons expects that the Coordination Framework will attempt to entice provincial council members from rival parties to defect in order to overturn their majorities in the councils.