A continuing crisis… The lack of agreement within the coordination framework is delaying the decision on the prime minister’s position.
A continuing crisis… The lack of agreement within the coordination framework is delaying the decision on the prime minister’s position.
4-23-2026
The Coordination Framework failed to hold its anticipated meeting on Wednesday to select the new prime minister. This failure follows a series of unproductive meetings held by the framework in recent days. The framework had been on the verge of announcing its candidate for the position at a meeting last Monday, which was postponed to allow more time to reach a consensus on the candidates under discussion. However, no agreement was reached, and the framework’s leaders failed to finalize a candidate. This led to the postponement of the session until Friday, in the hope of announcing a candidate.
Former MP Kazem al-Sayyadi stated in a televised interview monitored by Al-Maalomah that “the nomination of Basim al-Badri for prime minister does not mean he is a compromise candidate intended to resolve the crisis of selecting a prime minister, nor was he presented as an alternative to Nouri al-Maliki for the position.”
He added, “Maliki spoke at the last framework meeting and made it clear to everyone that he is still a candidate for the presidency. Meanwhile, Sudani also announced his candidacy after Maliki spoke about running. Furthermore, the proposal of Ihsan al-Awdai as a compromise candidate is intended to delay the process of selecting a prime minister in order to buy time and present other proposals that serve Sudani’s project of securing a second term.”
For his part, Mohammed al-Khalidi, a member of the Reconstruction and Development Coalition, explained in a televised interview monitored by Al-Maalomah, that “the framework is divided into two groups: one that wants a decision and another that wants to postpone it and wait for the results of the war. Meanwhile, the parties that objected to Maliki’s nomination are influential and cannot be ignored.”
He continued, “The proposal to have two-thirds of the leaders and two-thirds of the parliamentary seats vote to choose the prime minister is a sound proposal,” noting that “the gap is significant, and the framework will not reach a decision on the candidate’s name until next Saturday.”
In a related development, Faleh al-Khazali, head of the Victorious parliamentary bloc, confirmed that “the Americans informed the political forces of their rejection of al-Sudani’s candidacy for prime minister,” explaining that “the requirement of external acceptance for the prime ministerial candidate is nothing but a novelty.”
He indicated that “all parties within the framework agreed to postpone Wednesday’s meeting, and there is an agreement to distribute the prime ministerial portfolio among everyone.”
Meanwhile, Abdul Samad al-Zarkoushi, a member of the coordinating framework, told Al-Maalomah that “the upcoming meeting of the coordinating framework will be final in its outcomes, particularly regarding the identification of the candidate for the next prime minister,” adding that “the number of names proposed so far is four candidates, according to the available information, but it is impossible to predict who will receive the framework’s support.”
He further stated that “more than one scenario will be presented during the meeting to achieve majority support, but the framework’s final choice will be announced in an official statement immediately after the meeting concludes, which will be attended by all leaders without exception.”
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