Iraq's next PM: candidate for real reform or business as usual?

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Shiite political parties in Iraq have been given until Saturday to reach an agreement on appointing a new prime minister, or President  Barham Salih will assign an independent candidate to form the next  governmental cabinet.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi resigned from his post in late  2019 following months of protests against the government, but he  remains in a caretaker role as the Shiite blocs – which dominate the parliament – have failed to agree on a replacement that  is also acceptable to the protesters on the streets.

Salih sent a letter to all Shiite  political parties on Wednesday to inform them of the new deadline.

“I invite all political parties to reach an agreement regarding the  candidate who will be next Prime Minister, who is also accepted by  the Iraqi people,” Salih said. 

“The political parties have until  Saturday to agree on a candidate for the position, or I will use my  constitutional authority to assign an independent candidate who is  the most accepted candidate by the Iraqi people and the parliament.”

Salih threatened to resign in December amid ongoing pressure to nominate foreign-backed candidates as PM, an issue which has rallied Iraqis to the streets since October.

The pro-Iran Bina coalition claims to be the largest bloc in Iraqi parliament, granting it  the constitutional prerogative to select Iraq’s new prime minister.

The coalition, headed by Hadi al-Ameri and former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, nominated Basra governor Asaad al-Aidani as Iraq's next leader. They sent a letter to President Salih requesting that he assign al-Aidani to lead Iraq’s new cabinet, which was rejected by the president.

More than 600 protesters and members of the security forces have been  killed and around 18,000 more wounded since pro-reform demonstrations began on October 1, calling for complete change to the post-2003 political order.

The  government’s brutal repression of the protests led to increased  pressure for Abdul-Mahdi to resign, culminating with Ayatollah Ali  al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, calling for  Abdul-Mahdi's resignation in a sermon on Friday, November 29.

Since Abdul-Mahdi heeded the demands to step down and submitted his  resignation on November 30, there has been intense political sparring  between politicians, parliamentary blocs and protesters over who will  be nominated to lead Iraq’s next cabinet.
 
The most recent candidates put forward by political parties are Ali al-Shukri, former Minister of Planning from 2011 to 2014 and MP from  2014 to 2018, and Mohammed Toufiq al-Alawi, who served as Minister of  Communication from 2006 to 2007, and again from the end of 2010-2012,  when he resigned.

The third shortlisted is Mustafah al-Kadhimi, head of the Iraqi  National Intelligence Service since 2016. He has worked to purge the  influence of parties over the institution, and is seen as the least  partisan among the candidates.