Iraqi president names Shia bloc candidate Ali al-Zaidi as PM-designate

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Choice of al-Zaidi breaks a months-long deadlock after Trump opposed appointment of pro-Iran former PM al-Maliki.

The Iraqi President Nizar Amedi has named Ali al-Zaidi as prime minister-designate, and tasked him with forming a government, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Iraq has reported.

Al-Zaidi was named earlier on Monday as the candidate of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shia parties that has a majority in parliament.

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“After considering the names of the candidates, Ali al-Zaidi was chosen to be the candidate of the Coordination Framework bloc, as the largest bloc in the House of Representatives, to occupy the position of prime minister and form the next government,” a statement from the Coordination Framework said after a meeting held in Baghdad on Monday.

The choice of al-Zaidi breaks a months-long deadlock in which the US President Donald Trump had himself intervened, after former two-time Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki emerged as the Coordination Framework’s initial candidate.

Al-Maliki, who is close to Iran, was fiercely opposed by Trump, who warned that all support to Iraq would stop if he became prime minister.

The Coordination Framework said that al-Maliki and outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had withdrawn their candidacies.