Al-Maliki gives up prime minister post to rival Abadi

Iraq’s former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki announced on Thursday evening that he had given up his candidacy to serve a third term as prime minister, after considerable pressure coming from domestic and international parties asking him to give up the post.

While standing next to the prime minister-designate, Haider Al- Abbadi, Anadolu news agency quoted Al-Maliki as saying during a televised speech: “I announce before you today, and to facilitate the functioning of the political process and the formation of the new government, that I withdraw my candidacy in favour of my brother Dr Haider Abadi and all that this entails in order to preserve the country’s higher interests.”

Al-Maliki added, “I did not clinch onto power; I was defending the constitution,” in reference to what he sees as his personal “right” to form the new government after his party won the majority of seats during the last parliamentary elections.

Iraq’s President Fuad Masoum nominated on Monday Abadi, who is with the State of Law coalition formerly led by Al-Maliki, to form a new government.

Masoum’s decision was supported by Arab and international actors and endorsed by the different Iraqi political blocs.

Al-Maliki also said, “I ruled out the option of force in order to avoid a return to dictatorship”.

The defeated prime minister remains the general commander of the Iraqi armed forces until the formation of a new government, which will happen in 30 days.

According to Anadolu, Al-Maliki’s media advisor, Ali Al-Moussawi, said Al-Maliki also withdrew the legal complaint he had submitted to the Iraqi Supreme Court, asking for the annulment of the president’s decision to appoint Abadi as prime minister.

Meanwhile, Sunni insurgents led by the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or ISIS, continued launching offensives on large areas of Iraq. They currently control several cities and districts, most notably the northern city of Mosul.

The US Air Force has been waging since last Friday airstrikes against ISIS sites, a campaign that Washington describes as “limited”, to stop the insurgents’ progress towards Irbil, the capital of Kurdistan and to “protect American interests”.