Shafaq News – Baghdad

Leaders of the Iraqi Shiite Coordination Framework (CF), the biggest parliamentary bloc, have signed a document outlining five criteria that will guide the committee responsible for evaluating candidates for Iraq’s next prime minister, a well-informed political source revealed on Wednesday.

The source told Shafaq News that the criteria require each candidate to present five core priorities in their government program, explain the mechanisms and solutions for implementing them, and set a clear timeline for execution. Candidates must also demonstrate political weight, enjoy local, regional, and international acceptance, and have a competent, identifiable team capable of carrying out assigned tasks.

According to the source, the candidate must also have no pending corruption or integrity cases and must belong to a political bloc with significant influence in the governmental and political landscape.

“The CF has held preliminary discussions on the distribution of ministerial portfolios among its components, after deducting the “points” allocated to the prime minister’s position—estimated initially at around 30 points—” the source said, explaining that this comes in an effort to accelerate the government-formation process.

He noted that competition for the post remains centered around three figures: caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, State of Law Coalition leader Nouri al-Maliki, and Intelligence Service chief Hamid al-Shatri.

Under Iraq’s power-sharing system, the premiership goes to a Shia figure, the speakership to a Sunni, and the presidency to a Kurd. With the CF holding 148 of parliament’s 329 seats, it is positioned to steer negotiations over the next prime minister, president, and speaker.

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