Shafaq News– Baghdad

Iraq’s cabinet negotiations are advancing, withcaretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani’s Reconstruction andDevelopment (Al-Ima’ar wal Tanmiya) Coalition expected to secure the largestshare of ministerial posts, while the Shiite Coordination Framework (CF) movescloser to naming its prime ministerial candidate, sources told Shafaq News onMonday.

According to one source, Al-Sudani’s bloc, which secured46 seats in the recent parliamentary elections, is poised to receive fiveministries and one independent authority, in line with its parliamentary weight. The portfolios under discussion include oil, industry and minerals, labor andsocial affairs, and the Baghdad Investment Commission.

The Finance Ministry, he added, is set to go toKurdish parties, while the Foreign Ministry is likely to be assigned to theAl-Hikma (Wisdom) Movement led by Ammar Al-Hakim, noting that the EducationMinistry is expected to be allocated to the Sadiqoon bloc, the political wing ofQais Al-Khazali’s Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, and the Interior Ministry to Hadi Al-Ameri’sBadr Organization. “Talks continue over the remaining independent bodies, withallocations linked to political and electoral entitlement.”

Meanwhile, Abu Mithaq Al-Massari, a figure close tothe CF, Iraq’s largest parliamentary bloc, told our agency that the nominationof former prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki, whose State of Law Coalition won 29seats, is nearing completion, citing broad internal support. Al-Maliki, he affirmed,is seeking confirmation through consensus rather than a competitive vote, witha formal decision expected at the bloc’s next meeting.

Political sources previously confirmed to Shafaq Newsthat the Framework plans to convene on January 19 to finalize both the primeministerial nomination and cabinet distribution. Earlier meetings werepostponed due to internal disagreements over a “contentious candidate,” widelyunderstood to relate to Al-Maliki’s potential return after Al-Sudani withdrew fromseeking a second term.

Under Iraq’s post-2003 power-sharing arrangement, thepresidency is held by a Kurd, the premiership by a Shiite Arab, and theparliamentary speakership by a Sunni Arab. CF–aligned forces control roughly180 of the 329 seats, giving the alliance decisive leverage in forming the nextgovernment.

: Nouri Al-Maliki: A name that still divides andtests the politics of memory