Iraq PM-designate faces ...
Page 1
Given the fallout from the recent war, economic pressures on Iraq, and al-Zaidi’s economic rather than security background, can it be said Baghdad is trying to shift priorities from geopolitical files toward economics and reconstruction?
Since 2018, after Iraq was able to fully defeat the ISIS, the Iraqi governing establishment and political actors reached the conclusion that security and political matters should no longer override economic priorities.
In fact, all governments that came after 2018 placed economic concerns at the forefront, and the parties supporting them shared those priorities. Naturally, they sought to advance Iraq’s development partly because it generates political popularity. Bringing in a figure with an economic profile fits precisely within that framework, where the economy remains the primary tool for Iraq’s development.
That stems from a conviction among Iraqi decision-makers and leaders that the economy produces security for Iraq. Al-Sudani, for example, managed to attract $100 billion in investment and launch multiple projects. It is natural that al-Zaidi, should he win parliament’s confidence, would proceed along the same track.
What impact will this choice have on resistance groups, particularly the position of the Popular Mobilization Forces and their relationship with the central government?
Al-Zaidi’s name was originally raised at a meeting attended by Nouri al-Maliki and al-Sudani at the home of Faleh al-Fayyadh, head of the Popular Mobilization Forces. It would therefore be difficult to expect al-Zaidi, if appointed prime minister, to take decisions contrary to the positions of the PMF.
At the same time, given pressure from the US government, developments in Iraq are likely to move toward the resistance factions and the PMF taking on a more organized and institutionalized form, with weapons, financial ties, economic relations and military structures all becoming clearly defined to the state.
Whoever becomes prime minister will be compelled, because of intense US pressure — particularly over dollar transfers to Iraqi banks, which could trigger economic difficulties — to regulate the PMF and Iraq’s resistance groups. But naturally, that is unlikely to lead to excessive tension. These matters will be managed through negotiations and dialogue between Iraqi domestic leaders and resistance leaders.