عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Bani Tamim Tribesmen Shut Down Police Stations, Govt Departments in Eastern Iraq

Protesters from the Bani Tamim tribe have shut down government centers on Tuesday night. (X)
Protesters from the Bani Tamim tribe have shut down government centers on Tuesday night. (X)
TT
TT

Bani Tamim Tribesmen Shut Down Police Stations, Govt Departments in Eastern Iraq

Protesters from the Bani Tamim tribe have shut down government centers on Tuesday night. (X)
Protesters from the Bani Tamim tribe have shut down government centers on Tuesday night. (X)

Despite the Diyala Provincial Council’s vote on its local government, the sharp polarization among the political blocs in Iraq, which secured seats in the council, remains unresolved.
Dozens of protesters from the Bani Tamim tribe disrupted government operations in the Diyala governorate on Tuesday, shutting down several offices in al-Muqdadiyah district to demand a tribal member be appointed governor.
The demonstrators, angered by the appointment of another candidate, blocked the local police station and other government buildings.
Last Thursday, the Diyala Governorate Council decided on local government positions, about 8 months after the local elections in December. Political differences and intense competition for positions among the winning blocs had prevented reaching an agreement, despite ongoing meetings held by the Prime Minister Mohammad Al-Sudani with representatives of the blocs.
The Diyala Council is divided into two groups: the first is trying to renew the term of former governor Muthanna al-Tamimi, and includes 8 members from Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. The other is made up of seven members of Sunnis and Shiites who object to al-Tamimi’s renewal.
The position of governor was given to Adnan Al-Jayer Al-Shammari from the Al-Bashair movement, which is part of the State of Law coalition. The position of Chairman of the Governorate Council went to Omar Al-Karawi from the Sovereignty Coalition, while Hessa Al-Tamimi from Asaib Ahl Al-Haq was given the post of vice-chairman of the council.
This distribution of posts led to the exclusion of the former governor, Muthanna Al-Tamimi, despite him winning the largest number of votes (40,000 votes) and his list, the Diyala National Alliance, winning the highest number of seats (4 seats), which angered the Bani Tamim tribe and the groups supporting the former governor.
Meanwhile, press sources spoke of a decision to dismiss a senior officer in light of the events in Diyala. The sources stated that exemption orders were issued by the Ministry of Interior to an officer with the rank of brigadier general who was in charge in the city of al-Muqdadiya, where Tuesday’s riots occurred.
 

 

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Algeria's President is Expected to Win a Second Term in Saturday's Election

A man walks past an electoral banner of Algeria's incumbent president and independent presidential candidate Abdelmajid Tebboune in Oran on September 5, 2024, ahead of the upcoming presidential elections. (Photo by AFP)
A man walks past an electoral banner of Algeria's incumbent president and independent presidential candidate Abdelmajid Tebboune in Oran on September 5, 2024, ahead of the upcoming presidential elections. (Photo by AFP)
TT
TT

Algeria's President is Expected to Win a Second Term in Saturday's Election

A man walks past an electoral banner of Algeria's incumbent president and independent presidential candidate Abdelmajid Tebboune in Oran on September 5, 2024, ahead of the upcoming presidential elections. (Photo by AFP)
A man walks past an electoral banner of Algeria's incumbent president and independent presidential candidate Abdelmajid Tebboune in Oran on September 5, 2024, ahead of the upcoming presidential elections. (Photo by AFP)

Algerians head to the polls Saturday to cast votes for president and determine who will govern their gas-rich North African nation — five years after pro-democracy protests prompted the military to oust the previous president after two decades in power.
Algeria is Africa's largest country by area and, with almost 45 million people, it's the continent's second most populous after South Africa to hold presidential elections in 2024 — a year in which more than 50 elections are being held worldwide, encompassing more than half the world's population.
Since elections were scheduled in March — ahead of the predicted schedule — there has been little suspense as President Abdelmadjid Tebboune appears poised to breeze to victory against the two challengers running against him.
The hot summer campaign has sparked little enthusiasm, apart from on public television, where it's required that candidate and surrogate appearances be covered. On TV, election season has been presented as a vibrant affair.
“Voting has no meaning in Algeria like in the big democracies,” 28-year-old Kaci Taher told The Associated Press a month before the election. “Where I come from, the results and quotas are fixed in advance in the back room of the government, so what’s the point of taking part in the electoral farce?”
Tebboune was elected in December 2019 after nearly a year of weekly demonstrations demanding the resignation of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Their demands were met when Bouteflika resigned that April and was replaced by an interim government of his former allies, which called for elections later in the year.
Protestors opposed holding elections too soon, fearing the candidates running that year each were close to the old regime and would perpetuate the corruption-ridden system they wanted to end. Tebboune, a former prime minister seen as close to Algeria's politically powerful military, emerged the winner. But his victory was marred by low voter turnout, widespread boycotts from protestors and Election Day tumult, during which crowds sacked voting stations and police broke up demonstrations.
This year, Tebboune ran as an independent candidate with the support of several political parties including the National Liberation Front, which has dominated Algerian politics since the country wrested independence from France after more than a decade of war in 1962.
The southwestern Algeria native and political veteran has framed his first term in office as a turning point, telling voters in a campaign rally the week before polls that he “put Algeria back on track." To cement his legitimacy both domestically and to Algeria's allies, he hopes more of the country's 24 million eligible voters will participate in Saturday's election than in his first, when 39.9% turned out to vote.
“It seems that what matters most to ‘le pouvoir’ in this election is voter turnout to lend legitimacy to their candidate, whose victory is a foregone conclusion,” said Algerian sociologist Mohamed Hennad, employing a term frequently used to describe the military-backed political establishment.
Twenty-six candidates submitted preliminary paperwork to run in the election, although only two were ultimately approved to challenge Tebboune. Like the president, both have also emphasized turnout. Neither political novices, they have avoided directly criticizing Tebboune on the campaign trail.
Abdelali Hassani Cherif, a 57-year-old engineer from the Movement of Society for Peace party has made populist appeals to Algerian youth, running on the slogan “Opportunity!” and calling for efforts to boost employment and reform education, where French language has long played a major role in addition to Arabic.
Youcef Aouchiche, a 41-year-old former journalist running with the Socialist Forces Front, campaigned on a “vision for tomorrow,” and referenced human rights issues plaguing journalists, activists and critics of the government in Tebboune's Algeria. It's the first time since 1999 that his party, which enjoys strong support among ethnic minorities in central Algeria, has put forth a candidate.
Andrew Farrand, the Middle East and North Africa director at the geopolitical risk consultancy Horizon Engage, said both opposition candidates were more aimed at the 2025 legislative elections than the 2024 presidential contest. Because Algerian law funds political parties based on the number of seats they win in legislative elections, they hope campaigning will position them for a strong performance in 2025.