Prime Minister: Al-Sudani conceded to Al-Maliki and an agreement was reached on a “parliamentary formation”.
Prime Minister: Al-Sudani conceded to Al-Maliki and an agreement was reached on a “parliamentary formation”.
2026-01-12 04:34
Shafaq News – Baghdad
On Monday, Firas al-Muslawi, spokesman for the Reconstruction and Development Coalition, confirmed that the coalition’s leader, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, had withdrawn his candidacy for the position of Prime Minister in favor of Nouri al-Maliki, head of the State of Law Coalition, while revealing the formation of the “largest parliamentary bloc” between the two coalitions.
Al-Muslawi told Shafaq News Agency, “The coordination framework made a decision to authorize Al-Sudani and Al-Maliki to agree on the nomination of a candidate for the next prime minister. More than one meeting took place between them to discuss the government program and the upcoming challenges. Therefore, we and the leadership of the Reconstruction and Development Coalition unanimously decided (leaders and members) that Al-Sudani would withdraw his nomination in favor of Al-Maliki.”
He added that “the decision came to break the deadlock in the matter of choosing a framework candidate for the premiership and to adhere to constitutional timelines, and for several other reasons, including our concern for the interest of Iraq,” indicating that “the names included in the list of candidates are obscure names and cannot be named for this important position, which is the highest executive authority in the country.”
He continued, “The leader of the State of Law Coalition has extensive political experience and is far better than the names that have been put forward or included in the nomination list. Therefore, Al-Sudani’s concession in favor of Al-Maliki is not a withdrawal, but rather a concession that prioritizes the interest of Iraq, amidst the political, economic, and regional challenges, because the region is about to experience many changes.” He added, “Although our bloc is the largest within the coordination framework, we relinquished our right to form the government out of belief in and commitment to the unity of the framework.”
He pointed out that “the announcement of the Coordination Framework’s candidate for the premiership will be after the President of the Republic names the candidate, and will not exceed the constitutional deadlines,” indicating that “the Framework will succeed in forming the next government as it succeeded in its predecessors.”
He revealed that “initial understandings were reached during the past few days between the Reconstruction and Development Coalition and the State of Law Coalition, to form the largest parliamentary bloc, and a joint parliamentary committee was formed between the two coalitions under the name (Coordination Committee for Unifying Positions).”
It is noted that a source within the Shiite coordination framework revealed to Shafaq News Agency that the forces that met last Saturday at the home of the leader of the Iraqi Foundation Coalition, Mohsen al-Mandalawi, sought clarification on the reasons that prompted the outgoing Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, to withdraw from the nomination and give space to the leader of the State of Law Coalition, Nouri al-Maliki, to run.
According to the source, Maliki’s nomination was supported by most of the Coordination leaders, with the exception of the leader of the Wisdom Movement, Ammar al-Hakim, who sought the opinion of the religious authority and sent a message to the religious authority in Najaf. However, the latter renewed its refusal to interfere in the nomination of the prime minister, and thus the competition became limited to Maliki only.
Since the ratification of the election results held in November 2025, the Coordination Framework has begun holding meetings and conducting discussions among its forces and with other parties to decide on the position of Prime Minister, which is allocated to the Shiite component according to the custom in place after 2003.
shafaq.com
