Adil Abdul-Madhi tasked with forming new Iraqi Government The newly elected President, Barham Salih, named Abdul-Madhi a few hours after being voted president.

Adil Abdul-Madhi tasked with forming new Iraqi Government
The newly elected President, Barham Salih, named Abdul-Madhi a few hours after being voted president.

The newly elected President of Iraq, Barham Salih, has given Adil Abdul-Mahdi the task of forming the government.

Abdul-Mahdi, a Shia politician and former oil minister, has been for some time indicated as possible prime minister of Iraq.

After a first parliament session cancelled because no quorum was reached, finally, on Tuesday night the quorum was reached and the deputies elected on 12 May 2018 voted to chose the new President.  On the second round Barham Salih received 219 votes while Fuad Hussein got 22.

The KDP had withdrawn Fuad Hussein after the first round when the PUK-sponsored candidate Salih appeared to be in the lead.

Nevertheless Salih did not obtain the two-thirds of votes needed for an outright win in the first round so a second one was needed and he won it smoothly, as a simple majority is required.

Who is Adil Abdul-Mahdi?

An economist and Iraqi Shia politician, Abdul-Mahdi was one of the Vice presidents of Iraq from 2005 to 2011. He had previously served as Finance Minister and Oil Minister (2014-2016).

He is a member of the powerful Shia party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. He lived in exile in France for many years. In the 1970’s he was a leading member of the Iraqi Communist Party before opting for more Iranian Islamic ideas, and ultimately ending up rejecting his Marxist past and becoming an advocate in France for the Ayatollah Khomeini ideas.

On 26 February 2007, he survived an assassination attempt that killed ten people.

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