Iraqi political parties rally around spy chief as preferred PM
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi prime minister designate Adnan al-Zurfi faces slim chances at forming the next Iraqi cabinet after major political players including the President of the Kurdistan Region pledged their support to Iraq’s current intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi for the premiership on Wednesday.
The Coalition of Iraqi Forces (al-Qiwa), which is the biggest Sunni coalition in Iraqi parliament, announced their rejection of Zurfi’s candidacy in an official statement on Wednesday, pledging their support for Mustafa al-Kadhimi instead.
“The candidate to become Iraq’s next Prime Minister, who we would vote for [...], must receive approval and support from the political parties and coalitions [...], and be accepted at the national level,” the statement reads. “Therefore, we support Mustafa al-Kadhimi as he is the candidate of the Shiite political parties and coalitions.”
Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, also released a statement in support of Kadhimi to become the next Iraqi Prime Minister on Wednesday.
“We welcome the candidacy of Mr. Mustafa Al-Kadhimi for the position of Prime Minister in the federal government by the political parties of the Shiite component, and we call on everyone to support him to finish his assignments and form a government as quickly as possible.” Barzani’s statement reads.
Iraq’s President Barham Salih tasked Adnan al-Zurfi with forming a government following weeks of discord and disagreement between Iraq’s parliamentary blocs on March 17, however, has seemingly failed to gain popular support.
MP Abdul Abbas al-Shiya told state-run, Iraqi News Agency on Wednesday that it would be “difficult” for Zurfi to achieve the support needed to pass his proposed cabinet through parliament.
“The Shiite political parties rejecting al-Zurfi as prime minister designate, in addition to his failure to gain support from the Sunni coalition and Kurdish parties, make Zurfi’s ability to form the next Iraqi cabinet difficult,” Shiya said.
Mustafa al-Kadhimi is Iraq's current intelligence chief, and was nominated to become the country’s next prime minister by several shiite coalitions, including the Fatih coalition, led by former militia commander Hadi al-Amiri, and the State of Law coalition, headed by former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, as well as Ammar al-Hakim's al-Hikma coalition.
After serving three terms as governor of Najaf, Zurfi became leader of the Nasr-led bloc in the Iraqi parliament. The Nasr (Victory) party itself is led by Haider al-Abadi – Iraq’s prime minister from 2014 to 2018.
Zurfi’s predecessor, Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi, failed to get his cabinet of independent technocrats approved after Sunni, Kurdish, and some Shiite parties rebelled, fearing they would lose influence.
Zurfi has until April 16 to be approved by the majority of the parliament and form his cabinet – or face a fate similar to Allawi.