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Iraq's prime minister to resign after day of deadly violence

29 November 2019 17:13 (UTC +04:00)

Iraq's prime minister has announced that he is resigning in the wake of deadly anti-government protests, APA reports citing Sky News.

Adel Abdul-Mahdi's announcement was broadcast on state television, just over a year after he took office.

It comes a day after more than 40 protesters were killed by Iraqi security forces, and hours after the country's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called for a change in leadership.

In a statement, Mr Abdul-Mahdi said: "In response to this call [from the Shiite cleric], and in order to facilitate it as quickly as possible, I will present to parliament a demand (to accept) my resignation from the leadership of the current government."

The announcement gave no indication of a specific time frame, but parliament is due to convene on Sunday.

Iraq has been in midst of anti-government protests for weeks, where an estimated 400 mostly-peaceful activists have been killed.

Protesters are angry with the level of corruption, the poor performance of the economy and the lack of public services in Iraq. Many people in the country face frequent power outages, and end up using privately funded generators to keep the lights on.