Exclusive: CF narrows premiership race to three candidates
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Talks to choose Iraq’s next prime minister have narrowed to three candidates, a political source said on Thursday, as parties prepare for intensified negotiations next week to select the country’s top offices.
The source told Shafaq News that three names will be put to an internal vote within the Coordination Framework (CF), the alliance of ruling Shia political forces: caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, State of Law – SLC (E’tilaf Dawlat Al-Qanoun) leader Nouri Al-Maliki, and National Intelligence Service chief Hamid Al-Shatri.
The CF meetings, he added, are continuing to settle on a nominee in line with the bloc’s usual practice, though the process has been complicated by parties insisting that the choice reflect the electoral weight.
Pointing to the two committees recently formed by the CF — one tasked with shaping the next government, and another responsible for negotiations with political blocs — the source noted that they will not alter the equation, as the nominee will ultimately come from within the Shiite camp, adding that even if an unexpected name emerges, it would still be someone well known to the Framework.
The CF’s strongest showing came from Al-Sudani’s Al-Ima’ar wal-Tanmiya (Reconstruction and Development), which won about 45 seats, followed by Al-Maliki’s State of Law with 29, Qais Al-Khazali’s Sadiqoon with 27, Hadi Al-Amiri’s Badr Organization with 18, and Ammar Al-Hakim’s National State Forces Alliance (Tahaluf Quwa al-Dawla al-Wataniyah) with 18 — giving the bloc roughly 137 seats in the 329-member parliament.
Read more: Unsettled victory: Al-Sudani between a second term and Shiite power balances
On Tuesday, SLC official Alaa Al-Hadadi told Shafaq News that several CF factions openly oppose extending Al-Sudani’s mandate, describing the alliance as a “round table” where decisions depend on influence and consensus rather than seat numbers.
