Iraq .. Allawi apologizes for forming the government and the President announces the start of consultations to choose an alternative

Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi announced his apology for the mandate to form the Iraqi government for the transitional period to succeed resigned Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.

The official Iraqi News Agency reported that President Barham Saleh accepted Allawi's apology, and announced the start of consultations to select an alternative candidate for Allawi within 15 days.

These developments come in light of a political crisis in Iraq, which suffers from the repercussions of massive protests and political bickering, hours after the parliament failed to hold a session to vote on giving confidence to his government, due to the lack of a quorum.

Accusations and obstacles
Allawi said in a televised address to President Barham Salih, "During the negotiations, I collided with many things that did not go to the cause and interest of the country, and I did not concede or present private interests to the interests of the country, but unfortunately some parties were negotiating only to obtain narrow interests without a sense of the national issue." ".

Allawi accused some political parties of not fulfilling their promises to the people and putting obstacles in the way of the birth of an independent government working for the country. He continued, "I promised the people to leave the assignment if they were subjected to political pressure, and it is my duty to apologize for the assignment." But he did not disclose the political parties that hindered the task of forming the government.

According to the constitution, the deadline set for the prime minister-designate to hand over the composition of his government to parliament during an official session ends Monday, and in the event that this is not done, the constitution obliges the president to assign another person to form the government.

With the exception of the "Sadr Alliance" led by Muqtada al-Sadr, the "Alliance of Conquest" led by Hadi al-Amiri, and the "Iraqi Decision" coalition headed by Osama al-Nujaifi, none of the parliamentary blocs announced their support for the Allawi government.

Objections
The Allawi government faced objections from the Kurdish forces (53 deputies), and the "Iraqi Forces" coalition, which is the largest bloc of Sunni forces (40 seats), as these blocs demanded that the names (who represent the Kurds and Sunnis in the government) be nominated for the ministerial lineup for the prime minister to choose from them, Which the latter rejects because he wants to choose the ministers himself without any interference from the political blocs.

Allawi also faced opposition from the popular movement, which is demanding an independent prime minister who has not previously held official positions, and away from subordination to parties and abroad, especially Iran, which has had close ties with the Shiite forces ruling in Baghdad since 2003.

Allawi, the man who held two ministerial posts in the past, was charged with forming the new government following pressure from political parties, without taking into account the opinion of the demonstrators, who announced their rejection of him.

The protesters are demanding an independent figure who previously did not hold a political position to form the government, but Allawi has repeatedly promised to form a "historic" government of non-partisan ministers and experts in their field only.

The Adel Abdul Mahdi government had resigned in early December 2019 under the pressure of unprecedented popular protests that have continued since the beginning of last October.