Ariana News Agency-\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n His predecessor Adel Abdul Mahdi resigned in November, amid mass anti-government demonstrations. Hundreds of protesters have been killed.<\/p>\n Mr Allawi now has a month to form a new government, which he will lead until early elections. He immediately expressed support for the protests.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, local media reported that President Saleh had given parliament an ultimatum to decide on a new prime minister before he took the decision himself, after previous candidates were rejected by protesters.<\/p>\n In a video released on his social media accounts on Saturday, Mr Allawi announced that he had been nominated and called on Iraqis to continue protesting until their demands were met.<\/p>\n “If not for your sacrifices and your bravery, there would have been no change in the country,” he said. “I believe in you, and for this reason I will ask you to continue protesting.”<\/p>\n He promised to hold those responsible for the killing of protesters accountable and to combat corruption.<\/p>\n Mr Allawi, who is Shia, studied and worked in Lebanon and the UK before entering Iraqi politics following the 2003 invasion. He served as minister of communications twice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi, a former communications minister, was appointed by President Barham Salih.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_mat_hreflang_tags":[],"addvideo":"","video_duration":"","farsit":"","target":"0","top_stories":"0","top":"0"},"categories":[305],"tags":[114],"class_list":["post-4814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","tag-iraq"],"acf":{"myctype":"change","target":false,"top_stories":false,"top":false,"farsit":""},"yoast_head":"\n