Demonstrators chanted 'we reject Allawi' and held posters of the PM's face with a red cross through it.
New Prime Minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi appealed to downtrodden Iraqis for their support yesterday hours after his appointment by President Barham Salih, but protesters were already rejecting the head of government as a stooge of the political elite.
Allawi has one month to form a government and will lead it until early elections are held, for which there is no date set. Allawi in a formal address to the nation on state television late yesterday pledged to build a “state of freedom and justice” and to work to meet protesters’ demands for jobs and services and an end to crippling and widespread corruption especially by foreign-backed political and militia groups.
Since the defeat of Islamic State in Iraq in 2017, those militias have gained even greater power in parliament and in the economy. For the demonstrators, Allawi, the former communications minister under ex-premier Nuri al-Maliki - who presided over the fall of multiple Iraqi cities to Islamic State in 2014 and is accused of pro-syiah sectarian policies - is part of the ruling elite and therefore unacceptable.
Sadr later supported Allawi’s appointment, saying he had been “chosen by the people” and that this was a “good step” for Iraq. Sadr, a political opportunist, has both backed protests and sided with the Iran-backed political groups they reject.
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