Issue Brief on “Kadhimi: A New Hope For Iraq’s Multiple Challenges”

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On May 6, 2020, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi assumed office as Prime Minister of Iraq after more than 5 months of intense political turmoil.[1] Having served as former intelligence Chief, Kadhimi is no stranger to the labyrinth of power tussle that is Iraq’s political landscape. Kadhimi was nominated by Iraq’s President Barham Salih on April 9, 2020 after the previous two candidates, Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi and Adnan al-Zurfi failed to form a government.[2] Kadhimi’s appointment to office comes at an extremely tense point in time when Iraq is grappling with a plethora of challenges, public protests, IS resurgence in some areas, oil crisis, socio-economic woes and the latest threat, the Coronavirus pandemic. Unlike other countries, Iraq cannot afford the liberty of dealing with the virus outbreak as a singular top priority. Rather, such is the ubiquitous nature of issues plaguing the country that the incumbent Prime Minister has found himself in quite a bind. The new prime minister seems to have his work cut out for him in form of a triple threat that could easily overturn his infant rule, dissatisfied public, rogue militias and of course the Coronavirus pandemic.

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