Moqtada al-Sadr says he will participate in Iraq general election

Shia scholar says political leaders had written to him with a ‘charter for reform’ to rid Iraq of corruption.

The populist Shia Muslim scholar, Moqtada al-Sadr, has said he and his supporters would take part in Iraq’s October general election, reversing a decision last month to stay out. Al-Sadr’s bloc is part of a coalition that holds the most seats in parliament now, and is likely to be one of the frontrunners in the vote, which was called early by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi as a response to popular protests that took place in 2019. Al-Sadr said in a televised address on Friday that the about-face came after a number of political leaders, whom he did not identify, had written to him with a “charter for reform” to rid Iraq of corruption and mismanagement.