Iraq names new prime minister, paving the way to tackle nation’s deepening crisis

When 53-year-old Mustafa al-Kadhimi addressed the parliament early Thursday, after a long night of negotiations culminated in the political blocs agreeing to his ascension, he said that his government would “provide solutions, not add to the crises.”

A former journalist, Kadhimi has a reputation for pragmatism and close ties to Iraq’s president, Barham Salih. His premiership also appears to have won the backing, or at least acceptance, of both Iran and the United States, powerful actors in a country that has repeatedly found itself center stage in their proxy fight.

But the challenges ahead are steep. Plunging oil prices have hastened a potential economic catastrophe, leaving the government unable to fund its provisional 2020 budget without reforms. Coronavirus is still stalking the country â€" although the contagion rate has appeared to be lower than expected, health experts say that the risk of a second wave is very real should Iraq’s lockdown be eased too quickly.

Meanwhile, there is broad public anger over the extent of the country’s decline, while simmering tensions between Iran and the United States have repeatedly spilled over into hostilities on Iraqi soil, threatening to drag the country into open warfare and also harm the fight against what remains of the Islamic State group.

Following the U.S. invasion, power in Iraq was divided among the country’s different ethnic and sectarian groups, producing a deadlocked system where patronage is doled out to supporters by politicians and businessmen with links to the different factions. That system’s dismantling was a key demand of the October protests. The horsetrading that preceded Kadhimi’s confirmation showed instead that it was as influential as ever.

Kadhimi’s predecessor Abdul-Mahdi also came to office as a consensus candidate, and his opening months in power had seen what looked like small green shoots of recovery from the devastating impact of a 2003 U.S.-led invasion, a sectarian war, and then the rise of the Islamic State and its caliphate.

In Baghdad, the highly-fortified Green Zone was opened to civilian traffic, and walls across the city came down. More broadly, he vowed to combat to corruption, and to rebuild the battle-scarred country.

He resigned a year and a half into his term, having failed to overcome the constraints of the political system he inherited, and apparently struggled to understand the depth of popular anger in the system which sparked mass protests in October.

As the country’s former spy chief, Kadhimi has often remained in the shadows, and many Iraqis only heard his voice for the first time when he accepted the president’s nomination for prime minister last month.

His success or failure will depend on his ability to balance the passage of crucial reforms in the face of the same deep-rooted vested interests that have long stymied any change.

He changed his list of proposed ministers at least three times in the week running up to the parliamentary vote as he sought to appease different political factions and get his candidacy over the line. As the bell sounded Thursday to signal the start of the parliamentary session, deals over the final cabinet lineup were still being struck.

According to Iraq’s constitution, a government can pass if over half of a proposed Cabinet is approved. In the final event, 15 of Kadhimi’s proposed ministers passed a parliamentary vote while five did not. The Oil and Foreign Affairs ministries were also left vacant, pending further negotiations.

Although Kadhimi’s candidacy had won a level of consensus that the two men before him had been unable to secure, it was opposed by one of the most powerful militia groups in the country, Kataib Hezbollah, which has accused him of complicity in a U.S. drone strike which killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani and the head of Iraq’s militia network, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in January.

The statement Thursday was muted, stressing that the group’s political allies in parliament had been under pressure to find a consensus candidate. “But this does not excuse anyone from not continuing to pursue those who were involved in the murder of the martyred leaders and their comrades, whatever his job description,” it said.

Washington welcomed Kadhimi’s election Thursday, with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the new prime minister shortly after the parliament accepted his nomination. “They discussed the urgent hard work ahead for the Iraqi government, implementing reforms, addressing COVID-19, and fighting corruption,” said Morgan Ortagus, a State Department spokesman, in a statement.

Loveluck reported from London. Mustafa Salim in Baghdad contributed to this report.