Nuri al-Maliki tipped for leading Iraq’s biggest political alliance

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Vice President Nuri al-Maliki is tipped for the presidency of Iraq’s largest, Shia-dominated political group, a parliamentarian and a party comrade said Tuesday.

Huda Sajjad, from Maliki’s State of the Law coalition, said the former prime minister has been selected as the sole nominee for the leadership of the Iraqi National Alliance, the country’s largest political group currently chaired by Ammar al-Hakim.

The alliance decided in 2015 to rotate the alliance’s presidency among its member parties every year. It was first chaired by current Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Ja’fari, then its current chairman, Ammar al-Hakim, who took over in September 2016, and eyes are turning to Maliki as the next leader.

Hakim stepped down as the leader of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, a member of the national alliance, forming a new entity: Al-Hikma (wisdom) National Movement. His move came amid what political observers described as rifts within the country’s Shia political powers.

Observers believe Maliki, a close ally to Iran and Iraq’s top Shia clergy, has obviously been preparing to return for competition over government premiership, which he lost in 2014 to political and popular pressures after Islamic State militants took over a third of the country.