Maliki Won’t Give Up on Third Term as Iraqi PM

Sistani Dubs Lack of New Govt 'Regrettable Failure'

by | Jul 4, 2014

The rate at which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is losing allies has slowed, but that’s only because he has so few left. Everybody wants Maliki out, and even his own party has engaged in the talks to pick his replacement.

Maliki was vastly unpopular with Sunnis and Kurds after reneging on a previous power sharing deal, and many Shi’ites now view him as a failure for losing so much of the country to ISIS. Despite this, Maliki continues to insist he’s in the running for PM, and will never step down.

Parliament’s first meeting to replace him collapsed in a matter of minutes, but if there’s one thing that can bring MPs together, it’s replacing Maliki, so much so that outgoing parliament speaker Osama Nujaifi has agreed to step down if it means making it easier to agree on a post-Maliki premier.

Shi’ite religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, also pushing for a quick deal to replace Maliki, criticized parliament for the failed meeting this week, dubbing it a “regrettable failure” and reiterating his call for a new unity government.

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.

Join the Discussion!

We welcome thoughtful and respectful comments. Hateful language, illegal content, or attacks against Antiwar.com will be removed.

For more details, please see our Comment Policy.