Al-Maliki Hosts Al-Sudani in Unprecedented Meeting to Discuss Government Future

State of Law Coalition leader Nouri al-Maliki held an unprecedented meeting with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Tuesday (April 21, 2026) at al-Maliki's residence, where they discussed developments in forming the next government and outstanding constitutional obligations. Sources close to both sides said the meeting came after a night of the Coordination Framework's failure to reach consensus on its candidate for Prime Minister, with al-Maliki insisting on his own nomination despite internal and external objections. In contrast, al-Sudani has shown flexibility in dealing with the political scene, proposing a new initiative to resolve the crisis that included supporting a consensus candidate, but al-Maliki rejected the initiative and insisted his candidate obtain eight votes out of twelve from Coordination Framework leaders. This marks the first meeting of its kind between the fierce competitors for the Prime Minister's office since the beginning of the current political crisis.