Iraqi Parliament Elects President, PM-Designate Assigned to Form Govt

Adel Abdul Mahdi charged with former new govt as PM

After Monday’s parliament session failed to reach any agreements, the Tuesday meeting of Iraq’s parliament settled on Barham Salih as the new president. Salih had served as a prime minister for the Kurdistan Regional Government, and also as a deputy premier for the central government.

This was just the latest in a long process to form the Iraqi government after May’s election, and more progress was made thereafter, with Salih appointing a PM-designate charged with trying to form a new government.

The designate, interestingly, is Oil Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. A top Supreme Islamic Council figure, Mahdi is no stranger to being in the running for premier, but as a current independent MP he was something of a surprise.

It also doesn’t clarify which bloc is forming this new government. Mahdi has potential ties with several blocs, and could fit in multiple scenarios. His position as Oil Minister is a very powerful one in the government, and shows he has substantial influence going forward.

Author: Jason Ditz

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. View all posts by Jason Ditz

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3 thoughts on “Iraqi Parliament Elects President, PM-Designate Assigned to Form Govt”

deganawida says:

October 3, 2018 at 4:48 am

What a mess the americans did here…
Don Bacon says:

October 3, 2018 at 12:12 pm

from Juan Cole….
New Shiite-led Gov’t in Baghdad: How Iran won the Iraqi Elections & Frustrated Trump

Shiite politician Adil Abdul Mahdi has been appointed prime minister by new Iraqi president Barham Saleh, bringing to a close months of gridlock in Iraqi politics after the parliamentary elections in June failed to produce a clear winner. Parliament in the past couple of weeks has finally been able to hammer out some compromises, having elected a Sunni speaker of the house who ran on a Shiite party list.

Adil Abdul Mahdi is a member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq or ISCI (formerly the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq) and is the first post-2003 prime minister not to be from the largely lay fundamentalist Shiite party, the Da`wa (The Islamic Call Party).

The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq was founded in Tehran in 1982 at the suggestion of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, the clerical Leader of Iran. It is controversial, but Adel Abdul Mahdi is said by Aljazeera to have been one of the founding members in Tehran.

Despite Abdul Mahdi’s pragmatism, he is from a party formed by Ayatollah Khomeini. Its militia, the Badr Brigade, has become a party in its own right, led by Hadi al-Ameri. Al-Ameri and the Badr coalition were among the parties that nominated Abdul Mahdi to Barham Saleh.

… note that with the exception of the Forward Party (Reform Alliance), the parties that form the backbone of Abdul Mahdi’s prime ministership are strongly pro-Iran (al-Hakim was brought up in Tehran, and even the Kurds have good relations with Tehran). And Muqatada once pledged his own militia to defend Iran from any American attack.

… his government will inevitably have warm relations with Iran, and where they can, the Iraqis will buck the Trump administration in its push to isolate and boycott Iran. For one thing, Iraq is broke and can’t afford to boycott Iran, one of its bigger trade partners that has provided it with electricity in some provinces and offered use of its roads and ports. . .here
1. Don Bacon says:
  
  October 3, 2018 at 5:28 pm
  
  Iran says thank you, Uncle Sam, for Operation Iraqi Freedom. It gave our enemy Iraq the freedom to ally with us against you, a situation you call world terrorism. Call it what you will, it’s what it is, another big defeat for US imperialism.

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