Coordination Framework turns to majority vote in Maliki nomination

After weeks of negotiations, the Coordination Framework’s decision to nominate Nouri Al-Maliki for the premiership illustrates the depth of the impasse among Shia parties and alliances and their inability to reach consensus on a single candidate. Reliance on a majority vote ultimately became the only mechanism available to break the deadlock.

For months, the Coordination Framework had insisted that the prime ministerial nomination would be determined through collective agreement. In the end, however, its members failed to reach consensus on whether to back Maliki’s nomination.

Three key actors opposed the proposal: Asaib Ahl Al-Haq’s Qais Al-Khazali, who leads the Sadiqun bloc in parliament; Ammar Al-Hakim’s Hikma Movement, represented in parliament through the State Forces Alliance; and Shibl Al-Zaidi, head of Kataib Imam Ali and leader of the Khadamat Alliance. Despite several rounds of negotiations, Maliki failed to win over these three figures. During the Coordination Framework meeting on January 24, convened to take a final decision, all three opposed announcing the nomination, but the majority chose to proceed regardless.