Iraqi president gives MPs 3 days to name new PM amid protests

President Barham Saleh threatened on Wednesday to unilaterally name a successor to Iraq’s premier, who resigned in December, if parliament did not nominate a candidate within three days.

“If the concerned blocs are unable to resolve the nomination issue by no later than Saturday, February 1… I see an obligation to exercise my constitutional powers by tasking whomever I find most acceptable to parliament and the people,” Saleh wrote in a letter, according to AFP.

PM Adel Abdul Mahdi resigned in December after two months of deadly protests against his government, but he has stayed on in a caretaker role, as deeply divided political parties have failed to agree on a replacement.

In late December, Saleh formally declined to nominate the governor of the oil-rich province of Basra, Asaad al-Eidani, saying he would be too “controversial.”