While serving his second term as prime minister in February 2011, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told AFP he did not aspire to serve a third term. He averred that “the premier who has a program, and is efficient, does not need more than eight years to effectively implement it. If this is not the case, why, then, give him more than eight years?”
Contrary to what he said, Maliki was clinging to an extension by the end of his second term in September 2014 and only gave up after his supporters abandoned him.