BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Parliament speaker threatened the electricity minister Tuesday with a vote of no confidence if he does not appear within four days to be quizzed over a persistent power crisis.

For weeks, demonstrators have protested against corruption and poor services, especially abysmal power provision, making minister Qassem Al-Fahdawi a prime target for popular anger.

Parliament speaker Salim Al-Juburi “warns the electricity minister that he will be held accountable in absentia and that confidence will be withdrawn from him if he does not attend by Saturday at the latest,” a statement from his office said.

Juburi also said he rejected a request from Fahdawi that he not have to appear.

Amid a major heatwave that has seen temperatures top 50 degrees Celsius, thousands of people have protested in Baghdad and cities in the Shiite south to vent their anger and pressure the authorities to make changes.

They have railed against the poor quality of services, as power cuts leave just a few hours of government-supplied electricity a day during the scorching summer heat.

Their demands were given a boost when top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani called on Aug. 7 for Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi to take “drastic measures” against corruption.

Meanwhile, the prime minister said winning the battle for control of an oil refinery town north of Baghdad is a key step toward defeating Daesh, hours before a suicide attack killed 13 soldiers and allied militiamen in the western Anbar province.