Who is Ali al-Zaidi, the businessman named as Iraq’s PM-designate?
Key takeaways
- Political outsider Ali al-Zaidi is tapped as Iraq’s new PM to break a months-long political deadlock.
- Shortly after that, Iraq’s President Nizar Amedi appointed 40-year-old al-Zaidi as prime minister-designate and tasked him with forming a government, averting a constitutional crisis.
- Al-Zaidi’s elevation comes after months of a frantic search for a compromise candidate acceptable to both local factions and foreign powers.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Political outsider Ali al-Zaidi is tapped as Iraq’s new PM to break a months-long political deadlock.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi attends the meeting of the Coordination Framework political bloc in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 27, 2026 [Iraqi Presidency Office via AP]By Mohammad Mansour Published On 28 Apr 202628 Apr 2026After months of political wrangling, Iraq’s Coordination Framework on Monday named Ali al-Zaidi, a multimillionaire business figure, as the compromise candidate of the governing Shia bloc.
“After considering the names of the candidates, Ali al-Zaidi was chosen to be the candidate of the Coordination Framework bloc, as the largest bloc in the House of Representatives, to occupy the position of prime minister and form the next government,” a Coordination Framework statement read after a meeting in the capital Baghdad.