Highlights Zurfi withdrew his candidacy Thursday amid political opposition He is the second PM designate to quit the race Iraq is OPEC’s second largest oil producer Dubai — Iraq’s President Bahram Saleh named intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi as the new prime minister designate, state-run Iraqi News Agency reported Thursday, after Adnan al-Zurfi withdrew his candidacy amid political opposition to his nomination. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now Kadhimi now has 30 days to form a government and get parliament’s vote of confidence. Zurfi said on Twitter he couldn’t form a government for both local and non-domestic reasons. Several Shiite political groups had opposed Zurfi’s nomination and had been calling for him to be replaced by Kadhimi. Zurfi is the second candidate to withdraw from the prime minister race after Mohammad Allawi failed to win parliament’s vote of confidence for his cabinet. Iraq, OPEC’s […]