Historic Meeting Between Al-Maliki and Al-Sudani: Will the PM Crisis End?

State of Law Coalition leader Nouri al-Maliki hosted current Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani at his home in Baghdad on Tuesday (April 21, 2026) in a meeting described by observers as "historic" given the deep differences between the two men. The meeting, which came hours after the Coordination Framework failed to choose its candidate, discussed political developments and ways to complete the government formation process. Special sources revealed to our site that al-Sudani presented an initiative including consensus on a centrist candidate, but al-Maliki rejected the initiative and insisted on his conditions, demanding guarantees of eight votes out of twelve from Coordination Framework leaders for his candidate. Despite the initiative's failure, the meeting itself is considered a relative breakthrough in the intractable crisis sweeping the Iraqi political scene for weeks.