No plans in Al-Iraqiya to support Abdilmahdi’s candidacy as PM – source

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: There are no plans within the Al-Iraqiya Bloc to support the candidacy of Vice President Adil Abdilmahdi to become Iraq’s new prime minister (PM), said Osama al-Nejeifi, a leader in Al-Iraqiya. “According to the constitution and as election winner, Al-Iraqiya deserves to form the new government, with the bloc’s Head Ayad Allawi as prime minister,” al-Nejeifi told IraqiNews.com news agency on Saturday. He noted that the Al-Iraqiya wants to form a national partnership government embracing blocs that won the country’s parliamentary election. “We don’t want to marginalize others as happened in the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki,” al-Nejeifi stressed. On June 2, 2010, Hayder al-Mullah, the official spokesperson of Al-Iraqiya, said that the bloc could support Abdilmahdi as nominee to occupy the position of Iraq’s prime minister if unable to form the new government. “We will not give away our constitutional right to form the new government, but in case we are unable to form it, we support Dr. Adil Abdilmahdi as a nominee to occupy the position of Iraq’s prime minister,” al-Mullah told IraqiNews.com news agency. Abdilmahdi currently holds the position of Iraq’s Vice President; he is also a leading figure of the Iraqi National Alliance (INA). MH (S)/SR 1