Speech by Dr. Abbas Radi, Director of the Iraqi Institute for Dialogue, at a seminar on "Iraqi Elections and the Mechanism for Selecting the Prime Minister"

Dr. Abbas Radhi, director of the Iraqi Institute for Dialogue, said that the repeated delay in deciding the position of prime minister after each electoral cycle represents one of the most prominent manifestations of the imbalance in the Iraqi political system, which calls for an in-depth study of the mechanism adopted in selecting the prime minister.

He explained during a seminar organized by the institute in cooperation with the European Foundation for Dialogue and Development and the Ghadan Foundation for Risk Management, that the aim of this meeting is to anticipate events before the upcoming electoral entitlement and discuss ways to address the constitutional and political gaps that hinder the formation of governments on time.

He added that Iraq's political rules and legal controls have proven to be robust, preserving the peaceful transfer of power and preventing the country from slipping into unconstitutional paths despite repeated delays.

He pointed out that the Iraqi constitution, despite its flexibility, contains articles that are difficult to overcome and amend due to the delicate political balances on which it was built in the post-2003 period, noting that among those articles is the mechanism for electing the prime minister, which is now in need of reconsideration.

The Iraqi Institute for Dialogue, in cooperation with its partners, will soon launch a national initiative calling on political forces and civic actors to adopt necessary constitutional amendments that enhance the stability of the political system and prevent the recurrence of future government formation crises.