Election of Iraqi President launches apparent Sudani gambit for second term

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani is maneuvering aggressively to secure a second term, according to a variety of Baghdad insiders from across the political spectrum, who said the April 11 election of Nizar Amedi as president of Iraq was part of a broader gambit by Sudani to replace former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as the nominee from Iraq’s main Shia Islamist political coalition, the Coordination Framework.

As the largest political bloc emerging from Iraq's November 2025 elections, the Coordination Framework now has a constitutional timeline of 15 days from the election of a president to put forward a nominee for prime minister. Maliki had emerged as the Framework’s presumptive nominee in January but lost momentum when U.S. President Donald Trump publicly and forcefully opposed his candidacy.