BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq’s newly-elected President Fouad Massoum warned the country’s parliament that he would step down if the parties failed to nominate a candidate for the post of prime minister.
“I was elected president by all the Iraqi factions,” Massoum told representatives. “And I would never nominate anyone for the post of prime minister without all parties’ consent and blessing.”
The president warned: “if I am pressured to nominate a candidate, I will not hesitate to step down.”
Rudaw has learned that Iraq’s acting Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has urged Massoum to nominate him “since he represents the largest coalition in the parliament.”
The president has reportedly declined Maliki’s appeal and said he would not use his presidential powers to nominate anyone “without the clear support of all Iraqi factions.”
Iraq’s parliament elected Massoum as the new president last week. In line with the country’s constitution, the president should assign the prime minister to form a new cabinet.
Sources told Rudaw that the Shiite State of the Law was among the first factions to submit a petition to the president to nominate Maliki for the post.
According to Iraq’s constitution, the prime minister should be elected from the largest coalition group in the parliament. The Shiite parties hold most of the seats in the national assembly but have so far not announced any major coalitions.
The State of the Law with 93 seats has insisted on nominating Maliki as the sole Shiite candidate.
The Kurdish and Sunni factions have absolutely rejected a third term for Maliki. Even within the Shiite parties, Muqtada al-Sadr and his powerful bloc have spoken against the embattled prime minister, as has the Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who has appealed to Maliki not to run for a third term.
With the president and parliament speaker elected last month -- as the country is in the throes of a massive Sunni rebellion and with a third of the country in the hands of jihadi-led rebels -- a decision on the prime minister is the only hurdle standing in the way of Iraq forming a new government.
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