Sadr reaffirms protest ban until after Iraq vote, unmoved on election boycott

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Senior Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Thursday reaffirmed his call for supporters to refrain from protesting until after Iraq’s upcoming legislative elections, scheduled for November 11. The influential leader of the National Shiite Movement - formerly known as the Sadrist Movement - comes amid his continued boycott of the key vote.

A statement posted on Sadr’s official Facebook page included an image of a document outlining the activities of his supporters. One entry referred to a request from a group of young loyalists in Iraq’s southern Basra province seeking permission to stage a demonstration “in solidarity” with Sadr’s reform campaign.

In response, Sadr wrote, “There is no need for any demonstrations from now until election day.”

The cleric’s comments follow a directive he issued in late September, strictly prohibiting his followers from holding any demonstrations or armed displays.

In a handwritten message at the time, Sadr instructed, “All gatherings and demonstrations, even peaceful ones, are forbidden … unless by direct order from us.” Instead, he then urged supporters to use social media to voice opposition to “the actions of the corrupt” and to avoid responding to any verbal attacks against him.

The latter remarks came after videos circulated online showing Sadr’s followers rallying in Baghdad and Basra, coinciding with media reports about the alleged assassination plot.

The developments come as Iraq prepares for the November 11 parliamentary elections, with political rivals closely watching Sadr’s next moves and the potential impact of his stance on voter turnout.

Sadr’s bloc won 73 seats in Iraq’s 329-member parliament during the October 2021 elections, emerging as the largest political force. However, his attempt to form a “national majority” government with Sunni and Kurdish allies was blocked by the rival Shiite-led Coordination Framework, which insisted on preserving Iraq’s post-2003 consensus model.

The ensuing political deadlock led Sadr to order his lawmakers to resign en masse in June 2022.

After a 21-month withdrawal from politics, Sadr rebranded his movement in May 2024, renaming it the National Shiite Movement - a move that was widely interpreted as a possible prelude to political re-engagement.

However, in March, Sadr reaffirmed his boycott of the 2025 elections, citing widespread corruption and the flawed nature of Iraq’s political system.

“So long as corruption is prevalent, I will not participate in a flawed electoral process that only aims to secure ethnic, partisan, and sectarian interests, far from the suffering of the [Iraqi] people and the unfolding disasters in the region,” he said in a handwritten response shared via the X account of Salih Mohammad al-Iraqi, known for channeling Sadr’s views.

He also forbade his supporters from voting or running in the upcoming elections, noting, “As I had previously directed them [loyalists] to vote in the elections, today I forbid them from both voting and running” in the 2025 ballot.