Shafaq News– Baghdad

Taqaddum (Progress) Party leader Mohammed Al-Halbousi on Monday urged Iraq’s Shiite Coordination Framework (CF), the largest parliamentary bloc, to nominate a prime ministerial candidate with broad national backing, arguing that only a consensus figure can secure parliamentary approval and protect political stability.

On X, Al-Halbousi indicated he is awaiting the outcome of the Framework’s internal deliberations, while calling on its leaders to prioritize national cohesion over partisan considerations. Any nominee, he stressed, must enjoy wide political and social acceptance across Iraq, not just support within the CF.

Al-Halbousi also pressed for the formation of a strong, inclusive government capable of steering the country toward stability and reform, warning against a return to “painful, barren days” marked by crises, unrest, and deep divisions whose consequences, he said, Iraq continues to bear.

A source told Shafaq News earlier that the Framework is moving toward nominating former prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki, whose State of Law Coalition secured 29 seats in the latest parliamentary elections.

Under Iraq’s post-2003 power-sharing arrangement, the presidency is reserved for a Kurd, the premiership for a Shiite Arab, and the parliamentary speakership for a Sunni Arab. With roughly 180 of the 329 seats in parliament, Coordination Framework-aligned forces hold decisive influence over the formation of the next government.

Read more: Nouri Al-Maliki: A name that still divides and tests the politics of memory