Sadrist delegation meets KDP officials in Erbil amid government formation talks

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The Sadrist Bloc Negotiating Committee led by Hassan al-Athari met with Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) officials in Erbil late Monday to discuss the formation of the next Iraqi government.

The Sadrist and KDP delegations discussed a number of files of mutual interest with the former affirming the need to start a new stage of serious work to serve all Iraqis, per a statement by the Sadrist delegation.

“We discussed a number of topics, including the mutual understandings between the two sides for forming a national majority government, and the necessity of unifying efforts to save Iraq and provide a decent life for its people,” the Sadrist Bloc Negotiating Committee said in a statement.

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The KDP team's chief negotiator, Hoshyar Zebari, stressed the need to increase cooperation and coordination to speed up the government formation process, the Sadrist delegation's statement added.

Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Sadrist Movement came at the top of the October vote with 73 seats in the 329-seat legislature, has repeatedy stated that the new government must be a "national majority government" that is "neither eastern nor western," a phrase he has used to reject what he views as Iranian and US influence over the country's politics.

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