Iraq president names Mohammad Allawi as new PM, nominee says

President Barham Saleh had told Iraq’s divided parliament that he would name his own candidate unless it nominated someone by February 1.

Iraq’s president Saturday named ex-communications minister Mohammad Allawi as the country’s new premier, the nominee announced, two months after Adel Abdel Mahdi resigned from the post under pressure from the street.

Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi (Photo: Twitter)

President Barham Saleh had told Iraq’s divided parliament that he would name his own candidate unless it nominated someone by February 1.

Allawi, 65, in a video he posted to Twitter, said Saleh had named him and that he would form a new government in line with protesters’ demands.