Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani stepped aside for former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, two Iraqi officials said Tuesday, as negotiations continued over forming the next government after Iraq’s November parliamentary election.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, and al-Sudani’s office did not respond to a request for comment, according to the officials’ account.
Al-Sudani, whose bloc won the largest share of seats in the 329-seat parliament in November’s election, led the Reconstruction and Development Coalition, which won 46 seats. The coalition led by al-Maliki won 30 seats, the officials said.
The two officials said both contenders sought the backing of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Iran-backed Shiite parties that brought al-Sudani to power in 2022. They said the Coordination Framework was unable to choose between the top contenders and left it to the candidates themselves to decide.
The officials said a meeting between al-Sudani and al-Maliki agreed that al-Sudani would step aside in favor of al-Maliki, clearing the field ahead of the next phase of government formation.
The incoming government will face major economic and political challenges, with one of the most contentious questions centered on the future of armed groups, particularly the Popular Mobilization Forces. The Popular Mobilization Forces are a coalition of mostly Shiite militias that formed to fight the Islamic State group after the group’s advance across Iraq more than a decade ago, according to the report.
The forces were formally placed under Iraqi military control in 2016, but they still operate with significant autonomy in practice. The United States has been pushing Iraq to disarm Iran-backed groups, a difficult proposition partly because of the political power many of those groups hold, the report said.
As politicians wrangle over government formation, Iraq’s judiciary has also taken up the question of non-state weapons. Judge Faiq Zidan, head of Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, said in a speech earlier this month that there was no longer a need for weapons outside the Iraqi state following the defeat of terrorism.
Zidan said a functioning state depends on respect for the law, unified decision-making and “exclusive state control of weapons,” the report said. Some political forces welcomed the comments as a step toward strengthening state institutions and consolidating government authority, but armed groups pushed back.
The Iraqi Resistance Coordination group, which includes powerful armed factions such as Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, issued a statement rejecting any discussion about its weapons. The group described its arms as “a guarantee to defend the country and its sacred sites” and highlighted its role in combating IS, while saying that any dialogue on the issue, including with the government, must take place “after full sovereignty is achieved,” rejecting what it called foreign interference.
A judicial official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Zidan “has laid out a comprehensive legal framework for the disarmament process.” The official also said, “The refusal by some factions to disarm will not prevent the judiciary from supporting the incoming Iraqi government by providing legal cover and judicial backing for the disarmament process.”
The judiciary has also adopted a stronger stance in the post-election period on enforcing constitutional deadlines for government formation, including naming the speaker of parliament and the president, the report said. Analyst Ihsan Al-Shammari, a professor at the University of Baghdad, said this represents “one of the most assertive judicial interventions in Iraq since 2003,” when the current political system was established following the U.S.-led invasion that unseated Saddam Hussein.