Al-Ubaidi denies that Al-Sadr approved Al-Maliki’s nomination for the new government.
Al-Ubaidi denies that Al-Sadr approved Al-Maliki’s nomination for the new government.
2026-04-07
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Salah al-Obeidi, the special representative of the leader of the Shiite National Movement (formerly the Sadr Movement), Muqtada al-Sadr, denied on Tuesday what has been circulating on social media about the latter’s approval of the nomination of the head of the State of Law Coalition, Nouri al-Maliki, for the position of Prime Minister if the Shiite blocs agree on it.
Al-Obeidi told Shafaq News Agency, “The statements recently circulated and attributed to me through a suspicious account are forged statements, hence this clarification.”
Social media pages circulated a post attributed to Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, in which he announced that Muqtada al-Sadr’s approval of Nouri al-Maliki’s presidency is contingent upon Shiite consensus within the coordination framework.
The statement said that “Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi conveyed an indirect message to the Coordination Framework, stating that Muqtada al-Sadr now adopts a vision based on unity and the supreme national interest,” as al-Obeidi explained that “the position of the Sadrists regarding the nomination of Nouri al-Maliki for the position of Prime Minister is no longer based on absolute rejection, but has become linked to the extent of agreement of the other Shiite forces.”
He pointed out that “if the framework succeeds in achieving a complete and genuine consensus on choosing al-Maliki for this position, the Shiite national movement will go along with this consensus and will not stand in the way of the unified Shiite decision.”
The Coordination Framework had officially nominated Maliki on January 24, a move that opened the door to negotiations to form the new government, but the process faltered as disagreements continued over the election of the President of the Republic, the constitutional entitlement that precedes assigning the candidate of the largest bloc to form the government.
Pressure on Maliki’s nomination increased after US President Donald Trump announced on January 27 that Washington would not continue to support Iraq if Maliki returned to the premiership, while Maliki later said he would welcome a decision to replace his nomination if it came from the coalition that nominated him.
The coordinating framework, which includes ruling Shiite political forces in Iraq, is also witnessing a division over the nomination of Maliki for the next government, amid American warnings of the repercussions of his selection, which prompted forces within the coalition to try to persuade him to withdraw in order to preserve the unity of the framework.
shafaq.com
