Iraqi National Movement and Sadrists to form new front

Iraqi Vice President and leader of the Iraqi National Movement (INM) Ayad Allawi announced Saturday an agreement had been reached with the Sadrist al-Ahrar movement to form an anti-sectarian national front within parliament.

"The announcement comes after Allawi met with a delegation from the political committee of the Sadrist al-Ahrar movement. The delegation was headed by Ahmed al-Fartousi", INM spokesperson MP Maysoon al-Damluji told al-Araby al-Jadeed.

The front will be cross-sectarian, aiming to save the country from political and regional conflicts, based on Muqtada al-Sadr's code of honour.

"They agreed to form a national front, which will work within the Iraqi parliament and government in the next few days to formulate decisions that would serve the collapsing political process," Damluji said, adding "The front will be cross-sectarian and cross-national, aiming to save the country from political and regional conflicts, based on Muqtada al-Sadr's code of honour."

She said that Allawi had confirmed he would work hard to make the national code of honour successful through constructive and crucial dialogues with the movement in the future to ensure its implementation, which would pave the way for a united Iraqi society.

"This new front will be cross-sectarian and cross-national, and it will be based on a purely national agenda," al-Ahrar MP Diaa al-Assadi told al-Araby al-Jadeed. "The idea started nearly two months ago, and it has been discussed by al-Ahrar and some MPs, including Vice President Ayad Allawi. Everyone approved and welcomed the idea of forming this new front."

Assad added that "What the national front needs now is the joint cooperation of all participating figures to start its work in the parliament and the government within the next few days, as Iraq is currently in need of national decisions that serve the citizens' interests, away from limited partisan agendas."

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.