ASIA/IRAQ - Elections: 5 seats reserved for Christians. The Chaldean Patriarch congratulates Muqtada al Sadr

Monday, 21 May 2018 middle east   oriental churches   politics   geopolitics   religious minorities  

Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - The final results of the Iraqi parliamentary elections confirm that two of the 5 seats reserved for Christians have been won by candidates from the "Babylon Brigades" movement, they are: Aswan Salem Sawa - who won the seat reserved for Christians in the electoral province of Nineveh - and Burhanuddin Ishak Ibrahim, who won the seat reserved for Christians in the province of Baghdad. In the Province of Kirkuk the seat reserved for Christians went to Rihan Hanna Ayoub, candidate of the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Council, while candidate Immanuel Khoshaba, of the Assyrian Rafidain coalition, won the seat reserved for Christians in the governorate of Dohuk, and Hoshyar Karadag Yelda, a candidate for the Chaldean coalition, won the seat reserved for Christians in the province of Erbil.
Four of the five candidates belong to the Chaldean Church. Circles close to some Christian candidates, especially linked to the Assyrian Democratic Movement, who achieved disappointing results in the elections and will not manage to enter Parliament, announce appeals and raise suspicions on the election response.
Meanwhile, the Chaldean Patriarchate reports that in recent days Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako telephoned Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al Sadr, winner of the elections, to congratulate him and express his wishes for a government that really promotes the common good of all the Iraqi people. Muqtada al Sadr - reported the official sources of the Chaldean Patriarchate - thanked the Patriarch for his words on the occasion of the beginning of Ramadan, and confirmed his intention to "support Christians".
Sunday, May 20, feast of Pentecost, after the prayer of the Regina Coeli Pope Francis announced that a new Consistory will be held next June 29 for the creation of 14 new cardinals, including Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako. On Saturday 19 May, the Patriarch himself had issued a statement commenting on the election results, in which, among other things, he invited the Christian politicians "to learn a lesson" from the result of this election, recognizing that "once we put our finger into the wound, we will be able to develop a new vision and unite the stances to safeguard our small “quota” and its’ independence, which in turn protects our dignity and unity". (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 21/5/2018)


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