A supporter of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr carries the Iraqi flag as he walks down a road blocked by burning tires during a demonstration in Iraq's southern city of Basra on August 29, 2022. Dozens of angry supporters of the powerful cleric stormed the Republican Palace, a ceremonial building in the fortified Green Zone, a security source said, shortly after Sadr said he was quitting politics. Photo: AFP

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on Monday warned of further instability and called on Iraqi political parties to engage in dialogue to end the political gridlock that hampered the formation of a new government one year after the October 10 parliamentary elections in 2021.

"Today, Iraq is running out of time. The protracted crisis is breeding further instability, and recent events are a testament to that. In addition, it threatens people's livelihoods," UNAMI said in a statement.

The statement urged all parties to engage in dialogue without preconditions.

The Coordination Framework (CF), an umbrella group of Shiite parliamentary parties, said in a statement that it supports UNAMI's call for dialogue without preconditions with all political parties.

Also on Monday, Muhsen al-Mandalawi, first deputy of the parliament speaker, said in a statement that some 170 lawmakers submitted a request to hold a session on Wednesday dedicated to electing the next president of the country.

He said that "the presidency of parliament [speaker and his two deputies] will discuss the request and take a decision on it," according to the statement.

The Iraqi parliament resumed its session on September 28 after about two months of suspension after thousands of supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr started an open sit-in in the Iraqi parliament building.

Political tensions in Iraq have escalated in the past months between Sadrist Movement, the biggest winner in the October parliamentary elections in 2021, and his rivals in the Shiite parliamentary parties within the CF alliance.

Al-Sadr demanded in the past weeks to dissolve parliament and hold early elections, but his demands were rejected by the CF parties which became the largest bloc after Al-Sadr ordered his followers to withdraw from the parliament in June.

Over the past months, persistent disputes between the Shiite parties have hampered the formation of a new Iraqi government, leaving them unable to elect a new president with a two-thirds majority of the 329-seat parliament ­under the Iraqi constitution.