Outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi has met with the newly appointed prime minister-designate, Mohammed Allawi, to congratulate him. The two discussed ways to smoothly transition power based on constitutional and democratic factors. Mahdi also pledged full support for the next government. 

Soon after Allawi was appointed, protesters gathered in the capital Baghdad and other cities, rejecting Allawi as part of the ruling elite. Meanwhile, an influential cleric has called on supporters to hold sit-ins to support the new prime minister. 

Mohamed Tawfiq Allawi – who's a Shia Muslim – studied and worked in both Lebanon and the UK before entering politics after the U.S. invasion in 2003. The 65-year-old discarded his previous connections with political Islam, joining parliament on a secular ticket, headed by his cousin, the ex-prime minister, Ayad Allawi. 

He served in parliament from 2005 and was appointed minister of communications twice. He resigned from the position on both occasions, saying he couldn't reconcile with the then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Malki's sectarian agenda, and how appointments were made based on sect, rather than merit.