Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq's Federal Supreme Court registered on Tuesday thefirst legal challenge to the constitutional validity of Ali al-Zaidi'sdesignation as prime minister-designate.
The case was filed by Raed al-Maliki, a former memberof parliament, acting in his capacity as a private citizen and independentpolitical figure.
The lawsuit —the first of its kind since President Nizar Amedi mandated al-Zaidi on April 27— rests on four grounds according toal-Maliki: an alleged failure to meet candidacy requirements; a constitutionaland legal conflict of interest; a procedural defect in the nomination, on thegrounds that al-Zaidi was put forward by a political alliance rather than aparliamentary bloc and that the nomination bore the signatures of politicalleaders rather than being submitted through the constitutionally prescribedmechanism; and a contention that a candidacy disconnected from the popular willrisks depressing voter participation and enabling foreign interference —whichal-Maliki said had already occurred.
Speaking outside the court, al-Maliki argued that theoffice of the prime minister demands the judgment of a statesman with a recordin political and administrative affairs. "The constitution requirespolitical experience, not connections," he said.
Al-Zaidi, a prominent Iraqi businessman, was tasked byPresident Amedi with forming the new government following his nomination by theCoordination Framework, the dominant Shiite political alliance in parliament,as successor to outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
No hearing date has been announced by the court.