Maliki to Concede Defeat, Back Iraq PM Designate
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربيةNuri al-Maliki was due to drop his bid to remain Iraq's prime minister in a joint televised appearance with his designated successor, his spokesman said Thursday.
"Maliki will withdraw the complaint against the president and will back the prime minister designate," Ali Mussawi told Agence France Presse, referring to a lawsuit the outgoing premier had vowed to file.
President Fuad Masum on Monday tasked Haidar al-Abadi, a member of Maliki's Dawa party, with forming a new government, a move the two-term premier said was a violation of the constitution.
Tehran and Washington, the two main foreign power brokers in Iraq, came out in support of Abadi, and he was dealt another major blow when the office of Iraq's top Shiite cleric released a letter in which he called for Maliki to go.
Maliki went from relatively unknown exile to become a powerful premier who has been widely criticised for authoritarian tendencies.
His tenure will end with Iraq facing a major crisis to which his policies have contributed.
Jihadist-led militants are in control of major areas of five Iraqi provinces, after launching an offensive in June that swept aside security forces, of which he is the commander-in-chief.
Finally. Maliki was starting to strike me as the non-Al Qaeda-sympathizing version of Fouad Saniora. He just refused to give up the chair when everyone wanted him gone. I say good riddance for Iraq.
Fouad Saniora? How do you compare a dictator to a harmless economist who had to govern with your party of God pointing guns at his head and killing his allies. Can you explain how Maliki is like Saniora? It sounds like you just have to take a shot at your opponents at every opportunity regardless of facts and common sense.
I think the problem with Maliki is that he delusionally believes he represents the majority of his own sect. In that sense, he's actually more similar to Samir Geagea.