The resignation of embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi amid sustained protests for sweeping reform sets the stage for a new political crisis as the ruling class scrambles to address demonstrators’ grievances. The looming showdown in parliament over who will lead this country next comes as protesters clash with security forces in Baghdad and other cities in an effort to topple a system that they say favors an ossified elite. The demonstrators, thousands of whom are camped out in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, have called for a new election law and an end to the power-sharing arrangement that divides government spoils among Iraq’s political heavyweights. The grass-roots movement, which is two months old, is posing the most serious challenge to Iraq’s political order since the […]