Allawi withdraws his candidacy for prime minister post in Iraq

"I have tried with all possible ways to save our country from sliding into the unknown and to solve the current problem. However, I came face to face with many things unrelated to the country's interests during the negotiations. Some political sides negotiated with the aim of making gains without paying any attention to the national cause," he said in statement on Twitter.

Allawi was appointed prime minister of Iraq on 1 February 2020 in the context of the Iraqi protests of 2019–20, replacing Adil Abdul-Mahdi, who had remained as caretaker prime minister for two months after resigning in response to the protests.

Allawi's appointment as prime minister came as a result of nearly 4 months of Iraqi protests which were marred by more than 600 deaths amongst unarmed peaceful protestors outcried by the Iraqi civil society & the international community alike. His appointment was met with a popular uproar amongst Iraqi protesters for his perceived affiliation with the same root causes that triggered the October 2019 Iraqi protests including ' dissatisfaction with the country's political elite's mismanagement of the Iraq's economy and multiple catastrophic security disasters over a 16 year span including the rise of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and systemic widespread corruption which resulted in Iraq's rank as one of the most corrupt governments in the world for nearly 16 consecutive years.

He was nominated to serve as Prime Minister of Iraq in February 2020, but withdrew his nomination after failing to win a vote of confidence in the Parliament. (ILKHA)