INFLUENTIAL Shi’te cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has issued a one-week ultimatum for the Iraqi parliament to be dissolved as the country’s political crisis continues to deepen. 

He told the apex court there would be unspecified consequences if the judiciary does not heed his call and pave the way for early elections. 

His followers have staged a sit-in protest at the parliament building in the capital Baghdad as the country has been unable to form a government since elections last October. 

Mr Sadr’s bloc won the most seats in the national poll but was unable to form a coalition, leaving Iraq in a political stalemate.

He ordered all 73 of his lawmakers to quit but his supporters oppose the appointment of a pro-Iranian faction candidate for prime minister, Mohamed Shia al-Sudani.

Former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has said there would be no dissolution of parliament without the resumption of the routine functions of the judiciary. 

But Mr Sadr said that unless action is taken within a week “the revolutionaries will take another stance.”

The Iraqi Communist Party has warned of “unimaginable consequences” and said that early elections were essential to break the deadlock.