Nouri al-Maliki... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Maliki imposed order on Basra wen the Shiites were going nuts, but has proven incapable of dealing with al-Qaeda's Sunni insurgency. Reelected to his third term in 2014...
's Dawa Party has dismissed the nomination of Haider al-Abadi as the country's new premier.
The party said in a statement on Monday that al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition holds the majority of seats in parliament and only accepts him as the nominee for premier's post.
Reading the statement on state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
, Khalaf Abdul-Samad, a member of Dawa Party, said al-Abadi "only represents himself."
Earlier on Monday, Iraq's new President Fouad Massoum asked the deputy parliament speaker to form the new government.
Al-Abadi was nominated for the post by the Iraqi National Alliance, a coalition of Shia parties.
The nomination came after al-Maliki threatened legal action against Massoum for his failure to name a premier from the State of Law coalition by August 10 deadline.
"I will submit today an official complaint to the federal court against the President of the Republic for committing a clear constitutional violation for the sake of political calculations," Maliki said on Sunday.
He further noted that he would not give in to pressure to drop his bid for a third term in office.
Al-Maliki's son-in-law, Hussein al-Maliki, also said on Monday, "We will not stay silent," adding, "The nomination is illegal and a breach of the constitution. We will go to the federal court to object."
Abadi, a Shia politician, was born in the capital, Baghdad, in 1952, and returned from British exile after the fall of former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, in 2003.