Thursday , 28 March 2024

Iraq’s President assigns Mohammed Allawi with forming new government

alarabiya – Iraq’s President Barham Saleh on Saturday assigned Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi with forming a new government, according to the state-run Television.

Allawi who is a former communications minister was named prime minister designate by rival Iraqi factions on Saturday after weeks of political deadlock, AFP cited three Iraqi officials as saying.

Allawi, 66, would run the country until early elections can be held. He must form a new government within a month.

He was born in Baghdad and served as communications minister first in 2006 and again between 2010-2012. He resigned from his post after a dispute with former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

In a pre-recorded statement posted online, Allawi called on protesters to continue with their uprising against corruption and said he would quit if the blocs insist on imposing names of ministers.

“If it wasn’t for your sacrifices and courage there wouldn’t have been any change in the country,” he said addressing anti-government protesters. “I have faith in you and ask you to continue with the protests.”

A screengrab of the pre-recorded statement by Allawi which was posted online on February 1, 2020. (Screengrab)

Last Wednesday, Saleh threatened to unilaterally name a successor to the country’s premier, who resigned in December, if parliament did not nominate a candidate within three days.

“If the concerned blocs are unable to resolve the nomination issue by no later than Saturday, February 1… I see an obligation to exercise my constitutional powers by tasking whomever I find most acceptable to parliament and the people,” Barham Saleh wrote in a letter seen by AFP.

Prime Minister Adil Abdel Mahdi resigned in December after two months of deadly protests against his government, but he has stayed on in a caretaker role, as deeply divided political parties have failed to agree on a replacement.

According to the constitution, a replacement for Abdul-Mahdi should have been identified 15 days after his resignation in early December. Instead, it has taken rival blocs nearly two months of jockeying to select Allawi as their consensus candidate.

Abdul-Mahdi’s rise to power was the product of a provisional alliance between parliament’s two main blocs – Sairoon, led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and Fatah, which includes leaders associated with the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) militias headed by Hadi al-Amiri.

In the May 2018 election, neither coalition won a commanding plurality, which would have enabled it to name the premier, as stipulated by the Iraqi constitution. To avoid political crisis, Sairoon and Fatah forged a precarious union with Abdul-Mahdi as their prime minister.

Until Allawi’s selection, al-Sadr had rejected the candidates put forward largely by Fatah, officials and analysts said. Sairoon appears to have agreed to his candidacy following a tumultuous two week after the radical cleric held an anti-US rally attended by tens of thousands and withdrew support for Iraq’s mass anti-government protest movement, only to reverse the decision later.

“Sairoon has approved and Fatah has approved,” a senior Iraqi official said.

If elected by parliament, Allawi will have to contend with navigating Iraq through brewing regional tensions between Tehran and Washington. Tensions skyrocketed after a US drone strike near Baghdad’s airport killed top Iranian general Qassim Soleimani and senior Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes. The tumultuous event brought Iraq close to the brink of war and officials scrambling to contain the fallout.

The presence of US troops on Iraqi soil has become the focus of Iraqi politics in the wake of the strike. Parliament passed a non-binding resolution for their ouster and Abdul-Mahdi had openly supported withdrawal.

Abdul-Mahdi’s resignation was precipitated by ongoing mass protests in Baghdad and southern Iraq. Protesters are calling for new executive leadership, snap elections and electoral reforms. They have said they would not accept a candidate chosen by the political establishment.

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