How Much Power Will Incoming Premier Allawi Have?

(Reuters)

There were two reports about the possible scope and limitations of Mohammed Allawi when he forms a new Iraqi government. Middle East Eye had a story that Allawi’s nomination was agreed upon in a meeting in Iran between Moqtada al-Sadr and Badr Organization and Fatah Alliance head Hadi Amiri amongst others. It claimed that Allawi would only be given a limited mandate to hold elections, remove foreign military forces from the country and integrate the Hashd further into the government. One politician said that Allawi would be in a weaker position than outgoing premier Abdul Mahdi because he wouldn’t be able to deal with any major issues like corruption. That was contradicted by another piece in Al Masalah which talked with a parliamentarian (MP) who attended a meeting with Allawi and other MPs. The lawmaker claimed Allawi laid out a plan to make a clean sweep of the government administration by replacing all the deputy ministers, general managers, special grades, and advisers in the cabinet and prime minister’s office and tracking the performance of the minister he picked.

The unnamed politician was right, Allawi will be in a very weak position as Iraq’s new leader. Just like Abdul Mahdi he has no political party behind him. With no base of his own Abdul Mahdi had no way to push back against the ruling parties, and Allawi will be in the same situation. Neither was elected by the people either. Already the protests have come out against Allawi’s nomination even though he has tried to reach out to them. That makes it interesting to see if Allawi simply follows what other parties want him to do such as demanding that the Americans leave or whether he will try to carve out his own path and clear out the administration and put his own people in throughout the bureaucracy. The latter seems a much more challenging task.

SOURCES

Al Masalah, “Mohammed Allawi threatens the Prime Minister’s Office and all the ministries’ undersecretaries and grades for comprehensive change,” 2/5/20

Al-Salhy, Suadad, “REVEALED: The deal made in Iran that brought Iraq’s new PM to power,” Middle East Eye, 2/5/20