Six names compete to win new Iraq prime minister position

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Six Iraqi figures are competing to become the next prime minister of the new Iraqi government as the al-Nasr Coalition insists on keeping Haider al-Abadi in office for a second term.

A senior member from the Construction Coalition, which is composed of Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law, Hadi al-Amiri’s al-Fatih Coalition, and other small Sunni and Shia blocs, said Monday that six candidates are competing for the Iraqi prime minister position.

According to Amir al-Faiz, a senior member of the Construction Coalition, his coalition, and the Sairoon Coalition have presented three candidates each for the next prime minister of Iraq.

Sairoon’s nominees are Adil Abdul Mahdi, a former oil minister, Asaad al-Eidani, Basra governor, and Abdul Wahab al-Saadi, second-in-command of Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service.

The Construction Coalition have also presented Abdul Mahdi as a candidate as well as Falih al-Fayyadh, former Director of National Security Council, and Ali Shukri.

Meanwhile, a senior member of al-Nasr Coalition, Ali al-Snaid, says Abadi is still the favorite candidate to remain in his role as prime minister.

Marja’iya, the Shia religious authority in al-Najaf, and Muqtada al-Sadr are supporting Abadi’s second term in office, Snaid added.

Iraq’s top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, previously said he “does not support a [candidate for the role of] prime minister that is chosen from politicians that were in power in the past years.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany