Back to square one: 9 candidates for prime minister before the coordination framework
Back to square one: 9 candidates for prime minister before the coordination framework
2026-04-12
Shafaq News – Baghdad
The head of the Design Alliance, Amer Al-Fayez, revealed on Sunday that the coordinating framework intends to discuss the names of 9 candidates for the premiership at its meeting tomorrow.
Al-Fayez told Shafaq News Agency that “among the nominated names are the head of the State of Law Coalition, Nouri al-Maliki, the caretaker Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the head of the Accountability and Justice Commission, Basim al-Badri, the leader of the Asas Party, Mohsen al-Mandalawi, the head of the Intelligence Service, Hamid al-Shatri, the Prime Minister’s advisor, Mohammed Sahib al-Daraji, the former Minister of Planning, Ali Shukri, and the National Security Advisor, Qasim al-Araji.”
He added that there is no preference between the candidates, indicating that tomorrow’s meeting will determine the mechanisms for selecting the most suitable among them.
Al-Fayez explained that “Al-Maliki is still holding on to his nomination, despite objections from several political forces and blocs.”
He pointed out that “the meeting, which will be held at the home of the leader of the Wisdom Movement, Ammar al-Hakim, will be attended by Maliki, and the meeting may conclude with an agreement on a candidate or mechanisms that determine the person of the next prime minister.”
For his part, Abu Mithaq Al-Masari, a member of the Coordination Framework, confirmed that Al-Maliki was the only candidate who received the Coordination Framework’s vote.
Al-Masari told Shafaq News Agency that if the framework wants to discuss a list of names of candidates for the next government, it must officially withdraw its nomination and inform the leader of the State of Law coalition of this officially and in writing, and then the discussion will return to choosing the person qualified for the position.
He added, “The coordination framework was supposed to inform the President of the Republic of his candidate for the premiership, who is Maliki, but there is talk of political agreements, and therefore everyone is waiting for what will result from tomorrow’s meeting.”
This comes after the Speaker of Parliament called on the largest parliamentary bloc to nominate its candidate for Prime Minister within a maximum period of 15 days, based on Article 76 of the Constitution, following the election of the President of the Republic.
The process of forming a government faces additional complications, most notably the declared American position regarding al-Maliki’s return to power, and the escalating security tensions in the region, which puts political forces before the challenge of maintaining the “quota system” that has been in place since 2003 or sliding towards a comprehensive political deadlock.
Earlier on Sunday, the new President of the Republic, Nizar Amidi, officially assumed his duties as President of the Republic of Iraq, during a presidential ceremony held at the Baghdad Palace.
The Iraqi parliament elected, on Saturday, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party candidate Nizar Amidi as the new president of the republic.
A political source revealed on Saturday that Basim al-Badri is considered a compromise candidate within the coordination framework for the position of the next Iraqi Prime Minister, at a time when the leaders of the framework are preparing to hold a meeting soon to officially decide on the candidate’s name.
shafaq.com
