Iraqi parliamentary Shia blocs name candidate for new PM

Baghdad, July 26: The Shia political blocs in the Iraqi parliament have nominated Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani for the post of Prime Minister, months after failing to form a government due to a political row.

The Coordination Framework, an umbrella group of Shia parliamentary parties, said on Monday in a statement that the nomination came after a meeting held earlier in the day, during which the leaders of the Framework parties unanimously agreed to nominate al-Sudani for the post, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Coordination Framework became the largest alliance in the Iraqi parliament after the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers in the Sadrist Movement, the biggest winner in the elections held on October 10, 2021, with 73 seats, to withdraw from the parliament.

During the past few months, the continuing dispute among the Shia parties have hampered the formation of a new Iraqi government, as Parliament has been unable to elect a new President by a two-thirds majority of the 329-seat Parliament under the constitution.

According to the power-sharing system in Iraq after 2003, the presidency should be reserved for the Kurds, the Speaker's post for the Sunnis, and the Prime Minister's post for the Shia.

However, the dispute is continuing between the main Kurdish parties: the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, over the nomination of a new candidate for the President's post.

If elected, the President will appoint the Prime Minister nominated by the largest alliance in the parliament, the Coordination Framework, to form a new government that would rule the country for the coming four years.