• Prime Minister-Designate drafts ministerial curriculum

• Prime Minister-Designate travels to Kurdistan Region

• Prime-Minister-Designate speaks with US Secretary of War

• Deputy Minister of Oil sanctioned

• US announces another reward program

• Sadr releases statement regarding government formation

• President meets with heads of missions

• Iraqi FA announces pre-world cup plan

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Prime Minister-Designate Ali Al-Zaidi met with Speaker Haybat Al-Halbusi on Thursday and presented him with his ministerial curriculum (al-minhaj al-wizari), which is a document that parliament must approve alongside the ministers in his cabinet as stipulated in Article 76 of the constitution. The ministerial curriculum sets out the government’s broad policy priorities and includes a number of key commitments that it is expected to fulfil.

A more comprehensive “government programme” (al-barnamij al-hukumi) will then be produced by the new government within the first couple of months that lays out a far more detailed plan on how the government intends to meet its policy commitments.

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A week has passed since Ali Al-Zaidi officially became prime minister-designate. This leaves him three weeks to put together a government and convince MPs to approve his proposed cabinet. A prime minister-designate does not need to fill all his ministries in order to become prime minister. Rather, just over half of the allotted cabinet seats must be filled in order for a prime minister to hold and pass votes in cabinet meetings.

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• Ali Al-Zaidi nominated as prime minister-designate

• Coordination Framework holds weekly meeting

• US President backs Zaidi’s nomination

• Kurdistan Region President travels to Abu Dhabi

• Muthana provincial council holds vote of no confidence for governor

• Iraq falls in press freedom index

• US announces another reward program

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The designation of Ali Al-Zaidi as prime minister marks a departure from established patterns of elite bargaining, but not from the underlying logic that governs them. While the choice initially appeared strange, particularly given Zaidi’s lack of formal political experience, it is better understood as a calculated outcome of converging interests within the Coordination Framework.

The decision was notable for the degree of consensus it generated. Zaidi secured the backing of nine of the twelve Coordination Framework figureheads. Only Haider Al-Abadi and Humam Hamoudi objected to the nomination, with Abu Alaa Al-Walai also withholding his support, possibly as a face-saving measure in light of recent US objections to his participation in the meetings. This suggests that Zaidi’s candidacy was not simply a fallback option, but one that had been discreetly socialized within elite networks prior to its public emergence.

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The 15-day constitutional deadline to nominate a prime minister has been exceeded, with no indication that a resolution is imminent. Intensive negotiations over the weekend failed to yield progress, with a scheduled Saturday meeting ultimately not taking place. In response, the Coordination Framework has adopted a liberal interpretation of the constitutional timeline, arguing that public holidays do not count toward the deadline, effectively extending it until April 30. While this legal argument carries little substantive weight at this stage, it signals that political actors are buying time in the hope of reaching a compromise.

At the heart of the impasse are two intersecting dynamics. The first is a set of deeply rooted personal rivalries among key political figures. The second is a broader ideological and geopolitical struggle over the direction of Iraq’s political order.

On the personal level, the standoff between Nouri Al-Maliki and Prime Minister Sudani has proven particularly consequential. Maliki has remained firm in backing Basim Al-Badri as his preferred nominee, despite Badri not being formally part of his coalition and instead being closely aligned with Judge Faiq Zaydan. Maliki’s position appears driven less by affinity for Badri himself and more by a determination to prevent Sudani from maintaining influence over the premiership through a proxy.

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• Coordination Framework holds weekly meeting

• Service to the Flag Bill discussed in parliament

• KDP boycotts parliament

• Parliament postpones recess

• Iran attacks opposition groups in Kurdistan Region

• US sanctions seven commanders

• Iraq-Syria border crossing reopened

• Kuwaiti border posts attacked

• Former MP sentenced in absentia

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The government formation process has slipped back into deadlock, despite expectations last week that the Coordination Framework would finalize its nominee for prime minister over the weekend. A meeting scheduled for this evening is meant to resolve the issue, but events over the past 48 hours suggest the process has once again stalled at a critical moment.

Just days ago, momentum appeared to be firmly behind Basim Al-Badri as the compromise candidate to replace Nouri Al-Maliki. Signals from Maliki’s State of Law coalition indicated support for Badri, and a formal announcement had been planned for Saturday. That meeting was abruptly postponed at the last minute and pushed to Monday, raising immediate questions about whether the apparent agreement had unraveled.

Following the election of the new president on April 11, the constitutional clock on government formation has resumed. Under Article 76 of the constitution, the largest bloc now has no more than 15 days to nominate a prime minister-designate, who is then tasked by the president with forming the government. With that deadline approaching, the Coordination Framework faces mounting pressure to reach a final decision.

At the center of the dispute are two competing camps: one backing incumbent Prime Minister Sudani for a second term, and the other supporting Badri. Both sides have publicly claimed they command sufficient backing within the Framework. In reality, however, the positions of key figures such as Ammar Al-Hakim and Qais Al-Khazali have remained ambiguous, making it difficult to determine where the balance of power truly lies.

What has been clearer is Maliki’s strong opposition to a second Sudani term, a stance echoed by Humam Hamoudi of ISCI. That opposition has been a major obstacle to consensus, forcing the Framework to consider alternative mechanisms for selecting a nominee.

Last week, attention turned to an internal voting formula among the Framework’s 12 senior figureheads. Under this approach, a candidate would need the support of two-thirds of members, meaning at least eight endorsements. Both the Sudani and Badri camps claimed to have reached that threshold. The decision to convene Saturday’s meeting suggested that Badri, at least temporarily, had the upper hand, but that calculation now appears to have changed.

On Sunday, Maliki’s Dawa Party issued a statement asserting that Maliki himself remains the Framework’s candidate and has not withdrawn from consideration. The statement also emphasized that any replacement must be decided through a majority vote within the Framework. The message was widely interpreted as a reversal or at least a hesitation on Maliki’s part, effectively undermining the push to formalize Badri’s nomination.

Complicating matters further is a growing dispute over the legitimacy of the selection mechanism itself. The Sudani camp has objected to the equal weighting of votes among the 12 figureheads, arguing that it does not reflect political realities in parliament. Sudani’s bloc holds 46 seats, yet under the current formula it carries the same voting weight as factions with only a handful of seats. This has fueled tensions over whether the process is genuinely representative or structurally skewed.

With Badri’s path narrowing, Sudani’s allies have reportedly floated an alternative candidate: his chief of staff, Ihsan Al-Awadi. Such a move could reset the contest and force other factions to reconsider their positions. Maliki, in turn, may respond by advancing a different preferred candidate of his own. Contrary to some reporting, Badri is neither Maliki’s personal choice nor a member of his party, but rather is a candidate backed by Faiq Zaidan, the head of the Supreme Judicial Council.

If both camps continue to block each other, the stalemate could open space for a compromise figure. Names such as the head of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, Hameed Al-Shatri, could re-emerge, alongside the possibility of a lesser-known candidate as a middle ground acceptable to all sides.

With five days remaining before the constitutional window closes, brinkmanship is likely to intensify as each faction tests the limits of its leverage. Yet the constitution offers no clear penalties for missing the deadline, raising the possibility that Iraq could once again drift into an open-ended political stalemate.

The outcome of this evening’s Coordination Framework meeting will be a key indicator of the direction of the process, whether they can still reach agreement on Badri or if it has unraveled into another round of elite bargaining.

• Parliament elects a new president

• Coordination Framework meeting postponed

• Prime Minister publishes an op-ed

• Kirkuk elects a new governor

• Chaldean Catholic Church elects new head

• Iraq’s top diplomats summoned in the Gulf

• Ministry of Oil announces drop in oil sales

• US announces another reward program

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The Chaldean Catholic Church has a new patriarch. On April 9, the Chaldean Synod held an election in Rome and chose Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona as its leader. Nona replaces Cardinal Louis Sako, who resigned on March 9 after leading the Chaldean Church since 2013. The change in leadership comes amidst a scandal involving Bishop Emanuel Shaleta, head of the St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral in San Diego, California.

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Speaker Haybat Al-Halbusi convened a long-promised session to elect the president today, twelve days after committing to do so, amid lingering uncertainty over whether it would proceed. The doubt stemmed from calls by KDP leader Masoud Barzani to postpone the vote until a broader agreement on government positions had been reached. Despite the KDP’s attempt to boycott the session and block quorum, 223 MPs attended, narrowly surpassing the required threshold. As it became clear the session would go ahead, additional MPs joined the vote. The only other bloc to boycott alongside the KDP was Nouri Al-Maliki’s State of Law coalition, which sought to avoid appearing aligned with either side of the Kurdish divide, but ultimately sided with the KDP’s attempt to postpone the vote in solidarity for the KDP backing Maliki’s nomination for the premiership.

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• Barzani rejects pressure from Coordination Framework

• New Wasit governor sworn in

• American journalist released

• Washington summons Iraqi Ambassador

• Egyptian Foreign Minister visits Baghdad

• Kuwaiti consulate stormed

• Iraqi airspace reopens

• Baghdad transfers KRG salaries for March

• Kurdish and southern provinces observe April 9 as holiday

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There was another attempt to change the governor in one of the southern provinces. This time it was in the province of Wasit, when the chair of the provincial council, Ali Hassan Slaimoon, from Nabni Alliance, held a session on March 31 and replaced the current governor, Hadi Majid Kazzar, with himself. The Administrative Court convened a week later after Kazzar submitted an appeal, and ruled in his favor, reinstating him as governor.

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• Parliament sets date for presidential vote

• State Administration Coalition meets

• Sadr calls for demonstrations

• American journalist kidnapped

• US announces reward program

• Muthana governor reinstated

• Airspace remains closed amidst attacks

• Iraq qualifies for the FIFA World Cup

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After nearly five months of government formation, Iraq may soon elect a president. Parliament leadership has set the agenda for a session scheduled for April 11, intending to resume government formation by electing a president. Speaker Haybat Al-Halbusi and his two deputies met with parliamentary bloc leaders today and discussed the importance of adhering to their constitutional responsibilities despite economic and security hardships, hinting at the impact of the war from the past month.

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• Iraqi Army, INIS, CTS, Peshmerga, and PMF attacked

• National Security Council authorizes military response

• Kataib Hezbollah extends ceasefire

• Iraq arrests four people in attack on Syrian base

• Neighboring countries issue joint statement regarding Iraq

• Head of judiciary addresses who has the right to declare state of war

• Civil Aviation Authority extends airspace closure

• Arrest warrant issued for former governor of Salahuddin

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This weekend has seen a significant shift in who has been targeted in the Iraqi capital. On Saturday morning, the headquarters of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) was attacked by a drone that killed an officer, with another dying later from injuries. The following day, a rocket attack targeted the second regiment of the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), resulting in five members being injured. The attacks on INIS and CTS represent a transition from targeting foreign presence and interests in Baghdad such as embassies and military bases to targeting local Iraqi institutions instead. This is a significant development in the war.

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• Head of Judiciary warns of violating international and domestic law

• Kataib Hezbollah calls for ceasefire

• Prime Minister speakers with foreign leaders

• Iraq begins exporting oil through Kirkuk-Turkey pipeline

• Parliament convenes session regarding oil exports

• Iranian gas imports halted

• Prime Minister visits PMC HQ

• PMC condemns Saudi remarks

• Civil Aviation Authority extends airspace closure

• Iraq commemorates Ba’ath crimes

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