Adil Abdul-Mahdi | |
|---|---|
| عادل عبد المهدي | |
.jpg) Abdul-Mahdi in 2008 | |
| Prime Minister of Iraq | |
| In office 25 October 2018[1] – 7 May 2020 | |
| President | Barham Salih |
| Deputy | |
| Preceded by | Haider al-Abadi |
| Succeeded by | Mustafa Al-Kadhimi |
| Minister of Oil | |
| In office 8 September 2014 – 19 July 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | Haider al-Abadi |
| Preceded by | Abdul Karim Luaibi |
| Succeeded by | Jabbar Alluaibi |
| Vice President of Iraq | |
| In office 7 April 2005 – 11 July 2011 Serving with Ghazi al-Yawer (until 2006) andTariq al-Hashimi (after 2006) | |
| President | Jalal Talabani |
| Preceded by | Rowsch Shaways |
| Succeeded by | Tariq al-Hashimi |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 2 June 2004 – 6 April 2005 | |
| Prime Minister | Ayad Allawi |
| Preceded by | Kamel al-Kilani |
| Succeeded by | Ali Allawi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Adil Abdul-Mahdi al-Muntafiki (1942-01-01)1 January 1942 (age 84) |
| Party | Independent (since 2017)[2] SCIRI (1982–2017)[3] Iraqi Communist (1970s)[4] |
| Spouse | Rajah |
| Alma mater | |
| Website | t |
Adil Abdul-Mahdi al-Muntafiki (Arabic:عادل عبد المهدي المنتفكي, born 1 January 1942) is anIraqipolitician who served asPrime Minister of Iraq from October 2018 until May 2020. Abdul-Mahdi is aneconomist and was one of thevice presidents of Iraq from 2005 to 2011. He formerly served asMinister of Finance in theInterim government and Oil Minister from 2014 to 2016.[5]
Abdul-Mahdi is a former member of the powerful Shi'a party theSupreme Islamic Iraqi Council, or SIIC.[2] Long based in neighboringIran, the group opposed aUnited States administration while holding close ties with the other, U.S.-backed, groups that opposedSaddam Hussein, including theKurds and theIraqi National Congress.
Abdul-Mahdi submitted his formal resignation as prime minister in November 2019, following widespread protests over political corruption and violent police responses.[6]
Mahdi was born in Baghdad in 1942, the son of a Shiitecleric, Abdul-Mahdi, originally fromDhi Qar Governorate, who was the Minister of Education in Iraq'smonarchy, and a mother fromSyria.[7] He attended high school atBaghdad College, an elite American Jesuit secondary school. After graduating, he attendedBaghdad University, where he earned aBachelor of Arts degree ineconomics in 1963. He worked as a secretary for the Iraqi foreign ministry in 1965 and was an early supporter of theIraqi Ba'ath Party, but left due to ideological disagreements. In 1969, he moved toFrance where he worked for Frenchthink tanks and edited magazines in French and Arabic. In 1972 he obtained anotherMaster of Arts degree in political economy from theUniversity of Poitiers. He later obtained a PhD in economics.[8] Abdul-Mahdi is a French citizen, as are his children, and he returned to Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.[9]
In the 1970s, Abdul-Mahdi was a leading member of theIraqi Communist Party.[10] The party split into two separate factions, the ICP-Central Committee, which was more accommodating of the military governments that had ruled Iraq since 1958, and theICP-Central Leadership, which rejected all forms of cooperation of what it regarded as anti-progressive regimes, in 1967. Abdul-Mahdi joined the ICP-Central Leadership, and continued being active until he was expelled in and formed his ownsplinter claiming to be the legitimate ICP-Central Leadership. Both the ICP-Central Leadership and Abdul-Mahdi's splinter gradually disappeared by the early 1980s. By that time, Abdul-Mahdi adoptedIranianIslamic ideas, eventually merging with the Islamists whenAyatollah Khomeini eradicated the communists and liberal opposition groups inIran. Abdul-Mahdi continued his association with Iran and gradually amalgamated his group within the ICP-Central Leadership with the Iranians, rejecting hisMarxist past and devoting all his group's time to propagating Khomeini's ideas inFrance, where he lived at the time. He eventually was made a member of theSupreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, an exiled opposition party and militia that was formed by Iran in Tehran in 1982 but composed exclusively of Iraqi exiles.[11]
In 2006, Abdul-Mahdi, outgoing Vice President in thetransitional government, unsuccessfully ran for theUnited Iraqi Alliance's nomination for Prime Minister against incumbentIbrahim al-Jaafari. He lost by one vote. He was reportedly considered to be a possibility for Prime Minister once again untilNouri al-Maliki became theUIA nominee. Subsequently, Abdul-Mahdi was re-elected asVice President of Iraq. He exerted his limited authority in that role by delaying the first meeting of the National Assembly in March.[12]
On 26 February 2007, he survived an assassination attempt that killed ten people. He had been targeted two times prior.[13]
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In 2009, his bodyguards were the perpetrators of a bloody bank robbery in Baghdad.[14]
He resigned from his position as vice-president on 31 May 2011.[15] In July 2013, Abdul-Mahdi announced his decision to give up his retirement pensions as a former vice president.[16]
On 2 October 2018, Iraqi presidentBarham Salih selected Abdul-Mahdi to be the Prime Minister of Iraq. Mahdi had 30 days to form a new government.[2] On 25 October 2018, Abdul Mahdi was sworn into office, five months after the2018 elections.[17]
In April 2019, Abdul-Mahdi met withGermanChancellorAngela Merkel inBerlin. He announced a $14 billion plan to upgrade Iraq's electricity infrastructure, with likely cooperation with German companySiemens. Merkel also pledged to strengthen economic and security cooperation between the two countries, and to continue German support for reconstruction efforts in Iraq.[18]
On 29 November 2019, afterweeks of violent protests, Mahdi stated that he would resign from his post.[19][20] The Iraqi parliament approved his resignation on 1 December 2019.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 2004–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice President of Iraq Served alongsideGhazi al-Yawer,Tariq al-Hashimi andKhodair al-Khozaei 2005–2011 | Succeeded by Tariq al-Hashimi and Khodair al-Khozaei |
| Preceded by | Energy Minister of Iraq 2014–2016 | Succeeded by Jabbar al-Luaibi |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Iraq 2018–2020 | Succeeded by |
| Mandatory Iraq (1920–1932) |
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| Kingdom of Iraq (1932–1958) |
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| First Republic of Iraq (1958–1968) |
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| Ba'athist Iraq (1968–2003) |
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| Iraqi Governing Council (2003–2004) |
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| Republic of Iraq (since 2004) |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
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