Iraq PM race stalls as Al-Maliki and Al-Sudani reject stepping aside

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Efforts to persuade State of Law Coalition leader Nouri Al-Maliki and caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani to withdraw from the race for prime minister have failed, with both leaders insisting on their candidacy, a political source told Shafaq News on Sunday.

Meetings on April 25 among leaders of the Shiite Coordination Framework (CF), which holds around 162 of parliament’s 329 seats, focused on potential compromise options, including Haider Al-Abadi and Ihsan Al-Awadi, the source said, adding that the bloc plans to reconvene in the evening to choose a figure by majority vote, a move that could break the consensus approach and trigger internal opposition.

According to the CF member Abu Mithaq Al-Misari, the issue of naming the next prime minister remains complex, and “today’s meeting is unlikely to produce a breakthrough unless one of the two main contenders, Al-Sudani or Al-Maliki, steps aside.”

The alliance has repeatedly failed to unify behind a single nominee. Under Iraq’s post-2003 power-sharing arrangement, the presidency goes to a Kurd, the premiership to a Shiite, and the speakership to a Sunni Arab. Parliament elected Nizar Amedi as president on April 11, triggering the process to choose a prime minister. The Framework faces its constitutional deadline today to present a candidate, after which the nominee has 30 days to form a government and secure parliamentary confidence under Article 76 of the constitution.

Read more: Coordination Framework: Can govern Iraq, but cannot agree on a PM