Iraqi court adjourns session on dissolving parliament after clashes

Baghdad, Sep 1 (IANS) Iraq's Federal Court has adjourned a session scheduled to look into the dissolution of parliament, following this week's deadly violence in Baghdad over the country's prolonged political stalemate.The Sadrist movement, affiliated with influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, filed a lawsuit demanding early elections after the dissolution of the current legislature.Iraqi media reported that the session was postponed until Thursday, dpa news agency reported.At least 25 were killed and hundreds injured during clashes, which erupted when al-Sadr's loyalists stormed government offices in the Green Zone area on Monday.Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi announced a three-day mourning period on Wednesday.Since the October parliamentary elections, political forces have failed to agree on nominees for the positions of Prime Minister and President.Al-Sadr's bloc won the largest number of seats but lacked the majority needed to form a government.While he has been calling for early elections, his Iran-backed rivals want to form a government.The Coordination Framework political alliance had a nominee few weeks ago, but al-Sadr rejected him because of his links to the cleric's rival and former Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki.The Coordination Framework alliance reject al-Sadr's attempts to get a court decision to dissolve parliament, saying that the constitution stipulates that only lawmakers can vote to do that.
--IANS int/khz/

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