Another king is the last thing Iraq needs
Just when you thought constitutional monarchies were on their way out and under review around the world, along comes a member of a royal family wanting to resurrect the tradition. In Iraq.
Sharif Ali bin Hussein, a member of the former royal family in Iraq.
This month a descendant of Iraq’s second king is advocating a constitutional monarchy in his country. It’s of no surprise if Sharif Ali bin Hussein, the 54-year old member of Iraq’s royal family, gets support for this. After a dictator, two major wars in recent times involving Western military intervention and sectarian conflict, a constitutional monarchy may seem like the way forward. “I remain convinced that the return of the monarchy may be the remedy to Iraq’s ills, that has always been my ambition,” says Sharif Ali.
But perhaps there’s not enough support in Iraq for the return of a king? Sharif Ali is a former banker and bankers are ranked the same as politicians these days – low. Sharif Ali acknowledges this when he adds, “Until better days come, we will participate in the political process by joining forces with a Shia-led bloc to contest Iraq’s March 7 parliamentary election.”
It all seems a long time since a military coup in 1958 overthrew the monarchy in Iraq. Sharif Ali lived in Britain most of his life, returning in June 2003 as leader of the Constitutional Monarchy Party. At the time he asserted that “the majority of the Iraqi people demand the return of the monarchy.” Did they? Perhaps they were just fed up with the dictator in Baghdad rather than enthusiastic for a king. In 2005 the Constitutional Monarchy Party failed to win any seats in Iraq’s first parliamentary elections.
Or perhaps Sharif Ali means the majority of the Iraqi royal people support him. He told an interviewer, “Since 1991, a consensus has emerged in the royal family that I be designated the next-in-line to the throne.” Now there’s royal democracy in action.
Source:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/expat/t...e-way-forward/