Shiite rivals agree on Rebar Ahmed as President, a roadmap to government formation

Shafaq News/ The Sadrist movement, Coordination Framework, and al-Siyada Coalition have agreed to endorse Rebar Ahmed's bids for the presidency of the republic, leaving the selection of a Prime Minister to further meetings, two sources revealed on Saturday.

The head of al-Siyada bloc Khamis al-Khanjar, and Iraq's Parliament Speaker Mohammad al-Halboosi, joined a delegation from the Coordination Framework led by Hadi al-Ameri, on a visit to al-Hannana, the headquarters of the Sadrist movement's leader Muqtada al-Sadr, in Najaf.

The sources said that the meeting ended up naming the Kurdistan Democratic Party's candidate for presidency as their sole choice "as a part of a vision that integrates the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the government."

The meeting did not readily come up with a final decision regarding the figure that will take over Premiership, the sources said, but the Coordination Framework and the Sadrist movement agreed to schedule a meeting between the corresponding negotiating committees to ponder a proper formula for selecting a "consensus candidate" for the post.

Al-Sadr, according to the sources, "called for finding proper solutions to the economic crisis, the soaring prices of foodstuff, controlling the market, and the US dollar exchange rate."