Ahlul Bayt News Agency ; Iraq's main Shia parliamentary bloc chose incumbent Nuri al-Maliki as its candidate for prime minister on Friday, National Alliance MP Falah Fayadh said at a news conference.
"The National Alliance has chosen Maliki as its candidate for the premiership," Fayadh said. He said that the coalition's members voted "by consensus," but did not elaborate.
The selection of Maliki helps clear the way for an end to Iraq's more than six-month-long political deadlock that has seen no new government formed since March 7 elections.
Maliki's State of Law Alliance had finished second in the polls, two seats behind the Iraqiya bloc of ex-Premier Iyad Allawi. But Maliki joined forces with the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) in early May.
The newly-formed National Alliance held on-off negotiations for several months as members quarreled over the selection of a candidate for premier. The INA had named Vice-President Adel Abdel Mahdi as its choice, but Maliki eventually won out.
Iraq on Friday tied the world record for the longest period without a government after elections, with its 208-day impasse matching the time it took for the Netherlands to name a prime minister in 1977.
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