EXCLUSIVE: Nouri Al-Maliki sets terms for Iraq’s next premier
Shafaq News– Baghdad
The head of the State of Law Coalition, former PM Nouri al-Maliki, has put forward a set of political and procedural conditions for supporting Iraq’s next prime minister, according to a source within the Shiite Coordination Framework (CF), the umbrella alliance of ruling Shiite parties.
The source told Shafaq News on Wednesday that the Framework’s latest meeting was marked by tension and political bargaining, driven by competing claims from the two main contenders —caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, whose Reconstruction and Development Coalition won 46 seats in the recent parliamentary elections, and al-Maliki— over who should secure the premiership.
According to the source, al-Maliki, whose State of Law Coalition secured 29 seats, set conditions aimed at limiting political leverage from the premiership, including “barring the incoming prime minister from leading or running in upcoming provincial council and parliamentary elections, requiring that the director of the PM’s Office be appointed from outside the political alliance headed by the future premier, and establishing a CF follow-up committee operating from within the PM’s Office to monitor the government’s performance, alongside a 100-day evaluation period for the new cabinet.”
The Framework, the source said, is awaiting al-Sudani’s position on these conditions before convening a final meeting to agree on the prime ministerial nominee and the distribution of cabinet posts in line with parliamentary weight and political understandings, noting that the terms have gained broad acceptance among Shiite political forces within the CF.
During the same meeting, the National State Forces Alliance, led by Ammar al-Hakim, proposed that the next government refrain from submitting a three-year federal budget.
Iraq has entered the next phase of government formation following Parliament’s completion of its leadership elections in late December 2025. Under the constitution, lawmakers must elect a president within 30 days of the first session, after which the president is required to designate a prime minister within 15 days. The incoming cabinet must then be formed within 30 days of that designation.
Read more: Iraq Parliament finalizes speakership, heads toward presidential vote
By post-2003 political convention, the presidency is held by a Kurd, the premiership by a Shiite, and the speakership of parliament by a Sunni Arab.
The Coordination Framework, which holds the largest bloc in Parliament, has already taken formal steps toward nominating a prime minister. Framework official Imran al-Karkoshi previously told Shafaq News that the alliance submitted an official document to the parliamentary presidency identifying the largest parliamentary blocs, a required constitutional step to initiate the designation process. CF officials have also said the alliance shortlisted nine candidates for the post, including Bassem al-Badri, head of Iraq’s Accountability and Justice Parliamentary Commission, and Hamid al-Shatri, director of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service.
