BREAKING NEWS: Update on Iraqi PM Selection
An informed source inside the Shiite Coordination Framework said the group is leaning toward giving current Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani a second term.
The source also said other possible candidates will be discussed in an important meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
Last November, Iraq held general elections, but the country has faced a political deadlock for more than three months since then.
On Saturday, that deadlock began to ease when parliament elected Nizar Amidi as the new President of Iraq.
According to Iraq’s constitution, the new president now has up to 15 days to ask the largest parliamentary bloc to nominate a prime minister.
The largest bloc is the Shiite Coordination Framework, which now must decide on its candidate.
A spokesperson from one of the coalition groups, Salam al-Zubaidi, said a meeting planned for Monday was delayed until Wednesday.
The delay happened because candidate Nouri al-Maliki asked for more time to hold discussions and try to reach an agreement.
Al-Zubaidi said there is now strong agreement within the group to make a final decision at Wednesday’s meeting.
He added that the chosen candidate should be announced before the constitutional deadline next week.
Earlier, disagreements over Maliki’s nomination delayed the parliamentary session that was supposed to elect the president in late January.
In Iraq, it is common for leaders to agree on both the president and the prime minister at the same time as part of one deal.
Efforts to bring back Maliki for a third term became more difficult after U.S. President Donald Trump warned against it in February.
The United States also sent messages to Iraqi leaders, warning of possible sanctions if Maliki returned to power.
Because of this pressure, support for Maliki began to weaken both inside Iraq and internationally.
A senior official said Sudani now has the strongest chance of becoming prime minister again.
This is partly because some leaders believe Sudani has the most support in parliament.
Former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is another option, but his chances are lower than Sudani’s.
There are also other candidates, but they are considered weak options.
One idea is to go back to a list of nine earlier candidates, but this option has problems due to disagreements.
Another idea is to choose a completely new candidate who everyone agrees on, but this is seen as the least likely option.
Maliki has not officially withdrawn from the race, but he now understands that winning enough support will be very difficult.
This is due to U.S. opposition and concerns from Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish political groups.
Earlier in January, the Coordination Framework had nominated Maliki after some members rejected Sudani.
At that time, both Maliki and Sudani were asked to agree on which one of them would run.
Sudani surprised many people by stepping aside and supporting Maliki instead.
This decision caused more political deadlock within the coalition.
Shortly after, Donald Trump publicly warned against Maliki returning to power on his Truth Social platform.
Trump said that Iraq could make a “very bad choice” if Maliki became prime minister again.
He also claimed that Iraq experienced poverty and chaos during Maliki’s previous time in office.
The article you are hearing is a translated version of the original report written in Arabic.
