Iraq President Barham Salih offers to resign, refuses to nominate al-Eidani for PM post

Amid the political turmoil in Iraq, the country’s President Barham Salih has offered to resign following the three-month anti-government protests, however, he refused to designate the prime minister candidate nominated by the Iran-backed parliamentary bloc. President Barham Salih said in a statement issued by his office that he would not name the governor of the southern Basra province, Asaad al-Eidani, as the country's next prime minister “to avoid more bloodshed and in order to safeguard civil peace.”

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Protestors celebrated President's decision

The protestors who demanded the independent candidate for Prime Minister, gathered at Baghdad's Tahrir Square to celebrate the president's decision.

An Iranian-backed bloc on Wednesday in Iraq's parliament had proposed the governor of Basra province as the country's next prime minister. The proposal by the bloc was promptly rejected by the Iraqi protestors who demanded an independent candidate to take over the government. The Fatah bloc, which includes leaders associated with the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Units, supported by Iran, proposed Governor Asaad al-Eidani for premier.

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The Fatah bloc has slammed Salih's for not naming al-Eidani as the next Prime Minister and called for his impeachment. “We call on parliament to take legal measures against the president for shirking his constitutional oath and breaching the constitution,” it said in a statement. 

According to Iraq's constitution, the largest bloc in parliament is required to nominate the new prime minister, who then has to be designated by the president. A deadline to name a new prime minister has been missed twice over disagreements on which is the largest bloc in the parliament following last year’s elections. 

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There are two main blocs in the Iraqi Parliament, Sairoon led by populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr; and Fatah headed by Hadi al-Amiri. But the numbers in the blocs have continued to change since last year’s elections, with an unknown number of lawmakers leaving some blocs and joining others. 

(With AP inputs)

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