Maliki says Coordination Framework will endure as a ‘successful’ project

BAGHDAD — Nouri al-Maliki, leader of the State of Law Coalition, said the Coordination Framework remains a successful national project with no reason to break it up, defending the Shia alliance that has formed Iraq’s recent governments.

In a post on X on Friday, al-Maliki called the Framework “a national political project that has proven successful” and a “platform for the national political process,” saying its formation of successive governments had shown, “both practically and theoretically,” that it could manage the current period and keep stability. “There is no reason to abandon a project that has proven successful,” he said, adding that the alliance would keep “its principles, identity and founders.” Any changes to how it works, he said, would be “natural development” that kept pace with circumstances without altering its core.

The Coordination Framework is the coalition of Shia parties that forms Iraq’s main governing bloc. Formed after the 2021 election, it took power after lawmakers loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned from parliament in 2022, giving the alliance a majority. It backed former Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani’s government from October 2022 and now backs Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who replaced al-Sudani in mid-May. Its members include al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, the Badr Organization, the Hikma Movement and other Shia parties.