ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s ruling Shiite Coordination Framework has not changed Nouri al-Maliki as its official candidate for the next prime minister, his media director said on Sunday, with an anticipated meeting to finalize a candidate set to take place soon. 

The Coordination Framework is set to hold a meeting soon to finalize a pick for the premiership, amid rumors that Maliki will be replaced, potentially by incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, who is seeking a second term. 

Maliki “remains the officially announced candidate for prime minister, and he has not been replaced,” Husham al-Rikabi, media director for Maliki, said on X, adding that anyone seeking to form a government within constitutional deadlines must show “firmness and bold decisions,” rather than continue delaying or blaming other parties for the slowdown.

Rikabi also dismissed reports that a planned Saturday meeting was postponed due to difficulties communicating with Maliki, calling such claims “false and not reflective of the reality of the situation.”

His comments come a day after Bahaa al-Araji, head of the parliamentary bloc of Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development Coalition, said that reports of the premiership candidate having been decided were “completely false.”  

On Saturday, Humam Hamoudi, a senior Coordination Framework leader and head of the Absher Ya Iraq party, said the framework was “very close” to settling the issue of choosing a prime minister. 

Earlier in April, the Iraqi parliament elected Nizar Amedi as the country’s new president during a contested session that was boycotted by Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and the Hoquq Movement.

According to the Iraqi constitution, Amedi now has until April 26 to task the prime ministerial nominee of the largest parliamentary bloc to form a government.