Iraq’s Shi’ite alliance nominates Nouri al-Maliki for prime minister

BAGHDAD, Jan 24 (Reuters) – The alliance of Shi’ite political blocs that holds a majority in Iraq’s parliament has picked former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki as its nominee for the post, it said on Saturday.

The move paves the way for negotiations aimed at forming a new government, which will need to navigate the delicate balance between U.S. and Iranian influence.

The new government must manage dozens of armed groups that are closer to Iran and answerable more to their own leaders than to the state, while facing growing pressure from Washington to dismantle those militias.

Under the Iraqi constitution, parliament elected a speaker and two deputies on December 29 at its opening session, and must then choose a new president within 30 days. The president will in turn task the largest parliamentary bloc with forming a government.

The Shi’ite political alliance, the Coordination Framework, said in a statement that Maliki was picked “based on his political and administrative experience and his role in managing the state”.

Maliki, a senior figure in the Shi’ite Islamist Dawa Party, previously served two terms as Iraq’s prime minister from 2006 to 2014, a period marked by sectarian violence, a power struggle with Sunni and Kurdish rivals, and growing tensions with the U.S.

He stepped down after Islamic State seized large parts of the country in 2014 but has remained an influential political player, leading the State of Law coalition and maintaining close ties with Iran-backed factions.

He remains a potent force in Iraqi politics despite longstanding accusations that he fuelled sectarian strife and failed to stop Islamic State from seizing large areas of the country a decade ago.

(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed and Muayed Hameed; Editing by Jan Harvey)