Former minister Allawi given nod as consensus reached
Iraqi president named former communications minister Mohammad Allawi as the country’s new prime minister on Saturday after an 11th-hour consensus among political blocs, but the streets were ambivalent about his nomination.
Baghdad and the mainly Shiite south have been gripped by four months of anti-government rallies demanding snap elections, a politically independent prime minister and accountability for corruption and protest-related violence.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi resigned in December but political factions had been unable to agree a replacement.
Frustrated by the delays and worried about further instability, President Barham Saleh gave political blocs until Saturday to nominate a new premier, sending them into crisis talks that produced a consensus on Allawi.
On Saturday evening, Allawi addressed Iraqis on state television, pledging to form a representative government, hold early parliamentary elections and ensure justice for protest-related violence – all key demands of protesters.
More than 480 people have died and nearly 30,000 have been wounded in protest-related violence since October but few have been held accountable for the bloodshed.
“This nomination places a huge, historic responsibility on my shoulders,” Allawi said in his formal address.
He had earlier posted a video to Twitter announcing the nomination.
“I will ask you to keep up the protests, because if you are not with me, I won’t be able to do anything,” Allawi said, addressing the camera in colloquial Iraqi dialect.
The president’s office published photographs of Saleh sternly handing a smiling Allawi the nomination papers.
Outgoing prime minister Abdel Mahdi congratulated his successor and the United Nations welcomed the move.
“The prime minister-designate faces a monumental task,” said the UN’s top official in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert. “The UN has called time and again on all stakeholders to rise above partisanship and place the national interest first. Now is the time to act.”
Allawi’s nomination came after three days of intense talks over a shortlist of candidates, with senior government officials skeptical about a nomination until the evening.
The contenders needed a green light from a dizzying array of interests – the divided political class, the Shiite religious leadership, neighboring Iran, its rival the US as well as the protesters.
Iraqi people take part in a protest against the announced U.S. Middle East peace plan in Baghdad, Iraq, on Jan. 31, 2020. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)
