A constitutional timeline for the nomination of prime minister expired on Thursday, without a candidate being settled on. Political parties subsequently extended the deadline to Sunday.
The Bina Coalition on Saturday announced it had officially proposed its candidate for the position of prime minister to President Barham Salih, without publicly naming the contender.
“We have officially handed over our candidate for the position of Prime Minister of the next Iraqi government to Iraqi President,” Mohammed al-Ghaban, head of the Bina Coalition in Iraqi parliament said in a press conference.
Ghaban said the coalition is looking to form the next government “as soon as possible and not take up any more time.”
“We ask the Iraqi president to respect Article 76 in the Iraqi constitution, which calls on the president to appoint a prime minister from the biggest coalition in Iraqi parliament,” he added.
Reignited rivalry
Outgoing Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi resigned after Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s highest Shiite religious authority, urged him to stand down in response to nationwide anti-government protests in Iraq.
The race to replace him has reignited rivalry between Iraqi parliament’s two biggest coalitions.
Bina, headed by Hadi al-Amiri, counts former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and political parties affiliated with Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) paramilitaries among its membership.
The Islah Coalition is headed by influential Shiite cleric and politician Muqtada al-Sadr. Previous Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is a member.
A successor to Abadi when his term ended in October 2018 was only agreed upon after months of disagreement between the two coalitions. Abdul-Mahdi, an independent technocrat, was chosen as the "candidate of compromise" for premiership.
Islah reacts
Sadr dismissed the Bina coalition’s announcement by calling on it to “respect the marjaiyah, and respect the will of Iraqi people and protesters.”
He also targeted his call at Bina’s likely candidate for premiership, Qusay al-Suhail, the current minister for higher education.
“I call on the Bina Coalition and their candidate Qusay al-Suhail to respect the orders of the marjaiyah, respect the will of the people, and save your dignity, as that will be for good to you and us,” Sadr tweeted on Saturday, using a hashtag ‘the people are the biggest coalition.’
Abadi echoed Sadr’s message, calling on the election of “an independent figure that has the trust of the people, and then a snap election to take place with international supervision.”
Several submissions later
In a Friday sermon delivered by his representative, Sistani called on political parties to conduct snap elections and reach an agreement regarding the formation of the next Iraqi governmental cabinet as soon as possible.
Iraq’s various political blocs have since been locked in talks to nominate a suitable candidate to replace him. Several names have been put forward for the job, including Suhail.
No prospective contender has won the backing of the nation’s protesters, who say a candidate from the political establishment will do little to exact profound change.
