RE: Think its fairly obvious17 Mar 2020 18:57
Zurfi's very first challenge will be forming a cabinet that is acceptable to the country's rival Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish blocs -- and to the demonstrators -- within 30 days.
There was already one failed attempt: an earlier nominee, Mohammad Allawi, did not manage to form a cabinet by a March 2 deadline due to the competing demands of various parties and opposition from the street movement, which rejected him as too close to the ruling class.
Zurfi served as governor until 2015 and won his second parliamentary term in the 2018 election as part of the Nasr coalition, led by ex-PM Haider al-Abadi.
However, because he has not served in the post-2003 federal government, he would likely not be seen by protesters as "an old face that's been recycled," said Jiyad.
He will also have "learned the lessons of Allawi: you have to strike deals with the blocs and engage with them on cabinet formation," the analyst added.
His senior role in the Nasr coalition also grants him an early advantage over both Allawi and caretaker PM Adel Abdel Mahdi, neither of whom hailed from a political bloc.
In addition to Nasr, Sunni and Kurdish factions in parliament would likely back Zurfi.
- 'Will, charisma, strength' -
However, the powerful Fatah bloc, the political arm of the Hashed al-Shaabi military network, has already rejected his nomination.
The Hashed, which includes armed groups with close ties to Iran, has been incorporated into the Iraqi military, but its more hardline factions often operate independently.
Those groups have been blamed for a spate of rocket attacks on foreign soldiers and diplomats across Iraq in recent months that have left three US military personnel, one British and one Iraqi soldier dead.
Such attacks were dragging Iraqi security down "a black hole" and had tainted ties with Baghdad's one-time ally Washington, said Jiyad.
Zurfi, he said, would be tasked with improving the security situation and repairing those ties.
"We need someone with the experience, will, charisma and strength to rein in unruly elements -- and someone who understands the importance of having America on our good side," he told AFP.
Such a rebalance would however not be easy, he said, given the influence of Washington's regional rival Tehran.
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