ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s ruling Shiite Coordination Framework is closing in on an agreement to select the country’s next prime minister, a senior member said on Thursday, a month after Iraq held parliamentary elections. 

In a regular session on Monday, the Coordination Framework said it made “significant progress” in discussions to select the next prime minister, with “specific deadlines” agreed to finalize the pick. 

“All the positions within the Framework are aligned, and the final decision will be made according to the pre-established criteria,” Fahd al-Jubouri, a member of the National Wisdom Movement (Hikma), part of the Coordination Framework, told the state-run al-Sabah newspaper. 

A senior member of the Framework on Thursday told The New Region that the alliance’s pick for the premiership “will be decided this month.” 

“Three names have been submitted to the religious authority, and a response has been issued,” Fayez said, without revealing further details.  

Rahim al-Aboudi, a member of the Framework, told The New Region on Tuesday that the list of candidates for the premiership has been reduced from nine to three, including incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani. 

Aboudi said that there is a “very high possibility” that the candidate will be agreed upon during the faction’s upcoming meeting next Monday.

The Coordination Framework is an umbrella bloc of Shiite parties formed in 2022 to challenge influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s attempts at forming a national majority government. 

After Sadr withdrew his lawmakers from parliament, the Framework nominated Sudani for prime minister, and has been the main power-holder in the Iraqi government since. 

The Framework shortlisted nine candidates for the next prime minister following the November elections, which included current Prime Minister Sudani, former premiers Nouri al-Maliki and Haider al-Abadi, National Security Advisor Qassim al-Araji, and intelligence chief Hamid al-Shatri.

Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development Coalition emerged as the main party in the country in the November elections after securing 46 seats, while Maliki’s State of Law Coalition won 29 seats, placing third.