The framework intensifies its discussions before Saturday’s decision… Al-Badri and Al-Sudani are the most likely candidates for the premiership.
The leadership of the Coordination Framework, which includes the ruling Shiite political forces in Iraq, is scheduled to hold a crucial meeting on Saturday at the home of Ammar al-Hakim, head of the National State Forces Alliance, to choose a candidate for the position of Prime Minister, especially with the shrinking of the legal period specified after the election of the President of the Republic.
In this regard, the leader of the framework, Amer Al-Fayez, told Shafaq News Agency that the framework is expected to reach an agreement in Saturday’s meeting to choose its candidate for prime minister, indicating that the most prominent candidates for this position are the current Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, and Basim Al-Badri.
He confirmed that Nouri al-Maliki, the head of the State of Law Coalition, is still a candidate for prime minister and has not officially withdrawn his candidacy, despite media reports suggesting he might withdraw due to his diminished chances of obtaining the position as a result of the American “veto” imposed on him.
Regarding the existence of sharp political disagreements between the parties of the framework due to the delay in proceeding with the formation of the next federal government, Al-Fayez stressed that “there are no divisions within the framework, but rather there is a difference of views regarding the selection of candidates for the position of Prime Minister.”
On Wednesday evening, the coordinating framework decided to postpone its meeting scheduled for that night until next Saturday, after reaching “important” understandings regarding the leadership of the government.
This comes against the backdrop of a division within the coordination framework that split it into three wings due to disagreements over the candidate for the next prime minister, according to what a well-informed political source revealed earlier on Wednesday.
The political source told Shafaq News Agency on Wednesday that “the disagreements within the framework are no longer limited to differing viewpoints, but have developed into an actual split within the alliance into three main wings, which has cast a shadow over today’s meeting scheduled to be held at Humam Hamoudi’s house, with growing doubts about the possibility of postponing it to another date.”
He explained that “the first faction insists on nominating the leader of the State of Law Coalition, Nouri al-Maliki, or any figure who enjoys his explicit support from among the proposed names, while a second faction is pushing for the renaming of the caretaker Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, while the third faction prefers to go for a compromise candidate who can gain wider acceptance within and outside the Shiite community.”
Shafaq.com