Recalling the “lean days,” Al-Halbousi calls on the framework to nominate a “national figure” for the premiership.
Recalling the “lean days,” Al-Halbousi calls on the framework to nominate a “national figure” for the premiership.
2026-01-19 09:16
Shafaq News – Baghdad
On Monday, Mohammed al-Halbousi, head of the Progress Party, called on the forces of the Coordination Framework, which includes Shiite political forces, to nominate a name for the next government that enjoys national acceptance in order to pass it, away from what he described as “a return to painful lean days.”
Al-Halbousi said in a post on the X platform, which was followed by Shafaq News Agency: “We are waiting for what the brothers, the leaders of the Coordination Framework, will come up with in nominating the name of the person tasked with heading the next government, and we hope that they will be as keen on the unity and cohesion of all the components of Iraq as they are on the unity of the framework, and even more so, by taking into account the national acceptance necessary to pass the person tasked with the position.”
Al-Halbousi called for “the formation of a strong government supported by all components of the people who aspire to a better future, without returning to the painful lean days of crises, unrest and strife that are still stuck in the minds of Iraqis and whose effects are still present and have not found solutions despite attempts to treat them.”
The leaders of the Coordination Framework were supposed to hold an “important and crucial” meeting last Saturday to discuss the disagreements over the nomination of Maliki for a third term, after objections were raised by Ammar al-Hakim and the Secretary-General of the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq movement, Qais al-Khazali, with reservations from the Secretary-General of the Badr Organization, Hadi al-Amiri, but the meeting did not take place.
An informed source told Shafaq News Agency that the postponement of the meeting was due to the fact that “some of the influential forces within the framework (the Wisdom Movement and Sadiqun) refuse to pass any candidate except by agreement and consensus, with the condition of the availability of the agreed controls, the most important of which is imposing the rule of balance inside and outside, meaning that he should not be a controversial figure.”
Despite this, the source confirmed that “the forces of the Coordination Framework have enough time to choose their candidate for the premiership, i.e., 15 days after the President of the Republic has named them. Therefore, they have enough time to choose their candidate with the agreement of all its parties, otherwise we will go to the vote within the framework to choose the one who meets the conditions.”
Since the ratification of the election results held in November 2025, the Coordination Framework has begun holding meetings and discussions among its members and with other parties to decide on the position of Prime Minister, which is allocated to the Shiite component according to the custom established after 2003.
shafaq.com
