Outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki never thought that his strong and cohesive parliamentary bloc, the State of Law Coalition, would weaken so easily and that his internal and external allies would leave him and follow another political path. The efforts that Maliki has been deploying for many years to remain in power for a third term faded within hours. He was shocked when his fellow partisan Haider al-Abadi was designated to form a government, without his prior knowledge, which ultimately forced him to accept the loss and renounce his position on Aug. 14.

Although Maliki came to power following a democratic process, he followed a nondemocratic approach in building his internal and external relationships and coalitions. He exerted a significant effort to undermine the major competing coalitions, most notably the Iraqiya List coalition led by Ayad Allawi, which won more votes in the 2010 parliamentary elections than the State of Law Coalition. Maliki also extended his authority over the judiciary and the legislature using arbitrary methods, by limiting the powers and positions of influence to figures loyal to him within these two branches.

At the international level, he used the same method adopted by dictatorial regimes in the region, which is to scare Western countries of the rise of terrorism in the event they renounced their support for him. He has collaborated with Iran on all common files and issues between the two countries to obtain Iran’s full support. He was betting on the terrorist threat of the Islamic State (IS) to gain US and Iranian support to remain in power for a third term.

In his relationship with the Shiite authority, Maliki used intimidation and the approach of creating alternative religious authorities to overcome the religious power of the Shiite authority, which may have opposed him in the event he insisted on clinging to power.