The Iraqi president appointed former media minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi as prime minister yesterday, two months after Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi resigned.

Allawi will hold the post of prime minister until the pre-deadline elections are held. He has a month to set up a new cabinet and could be stuck in a fight between political factions for ministers. However, Allawi insists he will resign if political groups are determined to win positions in his cabinet.

"I am the one who carries your beliefs, so don't go against what you want, whether from me or anyone else. If political parties force me to appoint their people to you As ministers, I will resign, "Allawi said in a video posted on Twitter and domestic media on February 1.

Allawi, a Shiite Muslim, studied and worked in Lebanon and England before returning to Iraq to join politics in 2003. He served two terms as media minister under former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Former Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi resigned earlier in November 2019 due to a wave of protests against the government in Iraq that demanded the elimination of corrupt and incompetent politicians to lead the country. Nearly 500 people have been killed in the crackdown on protesters since October 2019.

Iraq has continued to sink in instability since Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was killed in an American air strike in Baghdad on January 3. Iran then responded with a series of missile strikes against bases with US troops stationed in the area.

Pro-Iranian Iraqi politicians have sought to use these events to divert public opinion from dissatisfaction with the authorities to protest against the US and request a withdrawal.