2025-11-29T13:40:20+00:00
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Shafaq News – Baghdad
One week after Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court dissolved parliament and reduced the government to caretaker status, the battle over who will lead the country next has moved decisively behind closed doors. Inside the Coordination Framework (CF) — the Shia alliance now positioning itself as the largest bloc — a shortlist of names is emerging, reflecting the political recalculations triggered by an election that returned no clear winner.
Senior Framework figures have spent days sorting through résumés, political histories, and factional loyalties as they look for a candidate capable of holding together a fragile coalition while navigating a country facing economic strain, public mistrust, and growing regional volatility. According to information obtained by Shafaq News, the list is narrower and more politically loaded than earlier leaks suggested.
Read more: Iraq’s new parliament: No bloc can impose, none can be ignored
At the center of the discussions is caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, whose Reconstruction and Development Coalition secured 46 seats — the single largest share in the new parliament. CF members acknowledge that Al-Sudani’s electoral performance strengthened his hand, giving him a legitimacy the bloc cannot ignore.
But his record in office has also complicated matters. His government faced public backlash over corruption scandals, slow reforms, and repeated crises in services and energy — issues that the Framework knows will weigh heavily if it puts his name forward again.
Alongside Al-Sudani, two other figures have rapidly gained ground: State of Law leader Nouri Al-Maliki and Basra Governor Asaad Al-Eidani. Al-Maliki, a dominant figure in Iraq’s post-2003 politics, has quietly reassembled networks of support across Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish parties, several of which see him as a stabilizing force capable of reasserting central authority after months of political drift. Multiple CF members told Shafaq News that Al-Maliki’s candidacy is now “the strongest on the table,” though it is not without internal resistance.
Read more: PMs Al-Sudani, Al-Maliki lead five candidates vying for Iraq PM post
Al-Eidani’s rise, meanwhile, reflects the shifting power of the provinces. Basra’s economic weight and its centrality to Iraq’s oil revenues have elevated the governor’s profile, and his entry into the shortlist signals a broader trend: the emergence of provincial leaders as serious contenders for national office. His supporters inside the Framework argue that a technocratic, governor-level candidate could break the cycle of crisis politics that has defined Baghdad for years.
One name, however, is fading. Intelligence Service Director Hamid Al-Shatri — once considered a consensus option — has seen his prospects narrow sharply. Shafaq News has learned that key actors in the Framework reject handing the premiership to a security official, fearing it would send a message of militarization at a moment when Iraq is trying to project political stability.
State of Law MP Ibtisam Al-Hilali confirmed to Shafaq News that the list under consideration includes “no more than fifteen names,” dismissing speculative public lists as inaccurate. The committee overseeing the selection will interview candidates in the coming days before narrowing the field to three. Those names will then return to Framework leadership for a final decision.
Complicating the process is the CF’s own criteria — particularly its insistence that the next prime minister must not be the head of a political bloc. That condition excludes several political heavyweights and forces the alliance to navigate around its own power centers.
Read more: CF advances process to pick next prime minister
Recent political developments have underscored how the struggle to form a new government now hinges on the Coordination Framework’s ability to consolidate support behind a single nominee while navigating deep internal divisions and complex post-election arithmetic.
Baghdad’s political class is well aware that the next prime minister will inherit a landscape marked by fragile services, energy shortfalls, investor hesitation, and a young population increasingly skeptical of political promises. Within that reality, the Framework’s eventual choice could determine whether Iraq steps into a period of recovery — or sinks deeper into institutional gridlock.
