Shafaq News– Baghdad
Taqaddum (Progress) Party leader Mohammed Al-Halbousion Monday urged Iraq’s Shiite Coordination Framework (CF), the largestparliamentary bloc, to nominate a prime ministerial candidate with broadnational backing, arguing that only a consensus figure can secure parliamentaryapproval and protect political stability.
On X, Al-Halbousi indicated he is awaiting the outcomeof the Framework’s internal deliberations, while calling on its leaders toprioritize national cohesion over partisan considerations. Any nominee, hestressed, must enjoy wide political and social acceptance across Iraq, not justsupport within the CF.
Al-Halbousi also pressed for the formation of astrong, inclusive government capable of steering the country toward stabilityand reform, warning against a return to “painful, barren days” marked bycrises, unrest, and deep divisions whose consequences, he said, Iraq continuesto bear.
A source told Shafaq News earlier that the Frameworkis movingtoward nominating former prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki, whose State of LawCoalition secured 29 seats in the latest parliamentary elections.
Under Iraq’s post-2003 power-sharing arrangement, thepresidency is reserved for a Kurd, the premiership for a Shiite Arab, and theparliamentary speakership for a Sunni Arab. With roughly 180 of the 329 seatsin parliament, Coordination Framework-aligned forces hold decisive influenceover the formation of the next government.
: Nouri Al-Maliki: A name that still divides andtests the politics of memory
