ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Islamic Dawa Party on Saturday announced it was fielding its Secretary-General Nouri al-Maliki as a candidate for the Iraqi prime minister position.

“The Shura Council of the Islamic Dawa Party unanimously decides to nominate the Secretary-General of the Islamic Dawa Party [Maliki] as a candidate for the Islamic Dawa Party to head the Council of Ministers,” read a statement from the party on Saturday.

Maliki’s State of Law Coalition came in third place in Iraq’s recent parliamentary elections, securing 29 seats out of the 329-seat legislature. The other two top parties were the Reconstruction and Development Alliance, led by current Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, which secured 46 seats, and the Taqadum Party and its coalitions, led by Sunni strongman Mohammed al-Halbousi, which garnered 36 seats.

Maliki’s name has been circulating alongside several other Shiite figures for Iraq’s premiership following the elections, mainly Sudani, who has held the position since late 2022 after being nominated by the Coordination Framework, of which Maliki remains a central figure.

Maliki has already served as Iraq’s premier for two terms since 2006. He resigned from the post during his second term in August 2014, following a series of major defeats Iraqi armed forces suffered at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS) earlier that year. Nonetheless, his eight years in power had already been marred by allegations of corruption way before his resignation.

The leader of the Dawa Party remains a strong force in Iraqi politics, having been a key pillar in the currently-ruling Coordination Framework and presided over multiple episodes of prickly relations between Baghdad and Erbil.