Hundreds of Iraqis rallied Sunday to support a candidate as the prime minister instead of current premier-designate Mohammad Allawi, who they see as too close to the ruling class.
Allawi was nominated on February 1 as a consensus candidate among Iraq’s fractured political parties but has only been publicly endorsed by cleric Moqtada Sadr, who has a cult-like following across the country.
Allawi said in a surprising tweet on Saturday that he would be ready to submit a cabinet to parliament within the week for a vote of confidence.
Parliament is officially in recess until mid-March and has not yet scheduled an extraordinary session.
In the shrine city of Karbala, dozens of students took to the streets carrying photos of Alaa al-Rikaby, a pharmacist who has emerged as a prominent activist in the protest, further south.
“We’re here to show our support for Alaa al-Rikaby, the candidate of the people!” said Seif al-Hasnawy, a 20-year-old student.
Rikaby began demonstrating in early October against corruption, lack of jobs and poor public services.
He has since risen to local fame with a series of videos posted on Twitter to his tens of thousands of followers, discussing politics and a path forward for the otherwise leaderless anti-government movement.
In one video last week, he asked protesters who gather at squares across the country to show whether they would back him for the post of prime minister, in a novel approach for a political nomination in Iraq.
“If the people decide so, I’d accept,” he said in his latest video on Thursday.
In Karbala, university student Hassan Qazwini said: “We protesters have numerous demands, and one of them is an independent prime minister without ties to parties; like Alaa al-Rikaby.”
Before Rikaby, Faeq al-Sheikh Ali, a liberal critic of the ruling class, also declared himself a candidate but has not received mass public or political backing.
