Behind the scenes… A new evening in front of the frame to “resolve” the Prime Minister’s office
A well-informed political source confirmed on Friday that the leadership of the Coordination Framework is “determined” to hold its postponed meeting to decide on the name of the next Prime Minister, while noting that the chances of the Reconstruction and Development Coalition’s candidate for the position, Ihsan Al-Awadi, have “decreased” due to the objection of the coalition’s own deputies.
The source told Shafaq News Agency that the meeting scheduled to be held today at the home of the head of the Supreme Islamic Council, Humam Hamoudi, “will be held to decide on the name of the candidate for the position of Prime Minister and may extend for hours, as the leadership of the framework is determined to do so.”
He added that today’s meeting may not resolve the matter due to the lack of consensus on a specific candidate, and that the Reconstruction and Development Coalition, led by caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, intends to nominate another figure instead of al-Awadi for the position of Prime Minister.
The source indicated that “there is a proposal from some leaders of the framework that will be presented at today’s meeting, which includes resorting to a compromise candidate to end the conflict and political deadlock within the framework between the State of Law and Reconstruction and Development.”
According to the proposal, the compromise candidate “will be supported by the leadership of the framework unanimously and not by a specific individual, and there are several names being considered, and one of them may be chosen as the compromise candidate in a meeting this evening.”
The Coordination Framework had announced on Wednesday evening the postponement of its meeting, during which the candidate for the Prime Ministership was supposed to be decided, until Friday.
The framework stated in a brief statement received by Shafaq News Agency that “it was decided to postpone the meeting until Friday to allow more space for dialogue and to reach a result within the constitutional timeframe.”
The coordinating framework had failed to agree on a candidate for prime minister during two meetings held last Saturday and Monday, so the decision was postponed until Wednesday.
In recent days, sources reported that outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani put forward the name of Ihsan al-Awadi as a candidate for the premiership, in contrast to the nomination of Bassem al-Badri by the State of Law Coalition led by Nouri al-Maliki.
Returning to the political source, he explained that “the competition between the State of Law Coalition and the Reconstruction and Development Coalition for the premiership is still ongoing, but the chances of the Director of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ihsan Al-Awadi, have declined in the past two days as a result of the objection of the Sudanese Coalition MPs to Al-Awadi’s nomination for the position of Prime Minister.”
He stressed that “the chances of the State of Law candidate, the head of the Supreme National Commission for Accountability and Justice, Bassem al-Badri, remain the same, and he enjoys the support of seven votes out of 12 votes in the leadership of the framework.”
Following the nomination of Ihsan Al-Awadi, the director of his office, by the Sudanese government, 30 members of the Reconstruction and Development bloc, which consists of 52 members, threatened to withdraw if Ihsan Al-Awadi was nominated to head the government.
An informed source told Shafaq News Agency on Wednesday that “30 MPs threatened to leave the Reconstruction and Development bloc if Ihsan Al-Awadi is nominated for the premiership by the head of the coalition, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani.”
On Thursday evening, MP Mahmoud Al-Shammari, from the parliamentary services bloc, revealed that members of parliament intended to collect signatures and send an official letter to the President of the Republic to nominate a suitable person for the position of Prime Minister, in the event that the coordination framework does not reach an agreement on choosing a candidate by next Saturday.
Al-Shammari told Shafaq News Agency that “if the coordination framework does not reach an agreement to choose a candidate for the position of Prime Minister within the constitutionally specified period, then the members of the House of Representatives will have a different opinion on the matter.”
He added: “We are waiting for the leadership of the framework until Saturday, and if they do not reach an agreement to choose the appropriate candidate for the position of Prime Minister, then the members of Parliament will collect signatures and send an official letter to the President of the Republic to nominate the appropriate person and get out of the political deadlock.”
Shafaq.com