Iraqi PM-designate Adnan al-Zurfi says to prepare elections within year
Iraqi PM-designate Adnan al-Zurfi, March 2020. Photo: Zurfi’s FB
BAGHDAD,— Iraq’s designated Prime Minister Adnan al-Zurfi said in a statement released on state news agency (INA) late on Tuesday that he will make sure to prepare free, fair, transparent elections within a maximum period of one year from forming the next government.
Al-Zurfi also said he will work to confine arms to the hands of the state, eliminate all armed manifestations, and enforce state authority, INA reported.
Iraq’s president Barham Salih named little-known former regional governor Adnan al-Zurfi as prime minister-designate on Tuesday in another bid to overcome months of unrest and deadlock, but powerful Shi’ite blocs quickly lined up to reject his nomination.
Zurfi now has 30 days to try and form a government which must then survive a vote of confidence in Iraq’s deeply divided parliament.
He is the second man chosen to succeed Adel Abdul Mahdi, who resigned as prime minister in November amid mass anti-government protests. The next candidate, Mohammed Allawi, quit on March 1, accusing parties of obstructing him.
Zurfi lived in the United States as a refugee in the 1990s after fleeing the regime of Saddam Hussein and is seen as a comparatively secular figure in a country long dominated by sectarian parties.
Copyright © 2020, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | Reuters
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