Al-Sadr approves Coordination Framework's nominee for Premiership, source says

Shafaq News/ The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, has approved including the Coordination Framework's nominee on the shortlist of the Premiership candidates, a source from inside the Shiite forces consortium said on Monday.

The source told Shafaq News Agency that al-Sadr "expressed no objection against nominating Mohammad Tawfiq Allawi to Premiership among other names in a shortlist that includes the incumbent Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi."

"It was a proposal made by Hadi al-Ameri," the source continued, "the leaders of the Framework are fine with al-Ameri's step."

The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said, "after the Federal Court's ruling on the parliament's first session, a meeting will be held between the leaders of the Coordination Framework and the Sadrist movement to settle on a PM-designate, according to political givens."

The bloc of the firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, already the biggest in the October 10 election, has been mobilizing impetus behind a "National Majority Government", challenging the status quo "consensus governments", which the forces of the Shiite Coordination Framework have been lobbying for.

al-Sadr has said he will ally himself with whoever puts Iraq's national interests first. That is an indication, Iraqi officials and Western diplomats say, that he may exclude some Iran-backed Shiite blocs in favor of parties with cross-sectarian support.

The Sadrist bloc emerged as the clear winner with 73 seats in the 329-seat parliament. Al-Takaddom party, one of two main Sunni political groups and led by the speaker of the outgoing parliament Mohammed al-Halboosi, followed with 37 seats. Former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law bloc came third with 33 seats.

The Iran-backed al-Fatah Alliance, won only 17 seats, compared with 45 in 2018.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) won 31 seats, while Kurdistan Alliance led by the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) won only 17 seats.