Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, elected premier in September 2014 and formerly Minister of Communication from 2003 to 2004, in the first government established after the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein and after the handover from the US occupation administration led by Lewis Paul Bremer, during a press conference held yesterday in Baghdad, said he did not intend to run for a second term.
"We respect and obey the instructions of the religious authority, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, I have not requested and will not ask for the post of prime minister for a second term, our service to the people will continue until a new government, we will teach everyone a lesson on how to bring about a change of administration in a peaceful way ”.
In fact, last Monday, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest Shiite Islamic religious authority in Iraq, announced that he would not support current Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi or former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as candidates for lead the next government.
The Iraqi parliament is expected to meet tomorrow to elect its own president and within 30 days of the first call, which was held last week, it will also have to appoint, by a two-thirds majority, a new head of state. According to the Iraqi Constitution, the presidency of the parliament belongs to a member of the Sunni Arab community, the office of the prime minister to a Shiite Arab and the office of head of state to a member of the Kurdish community.