But in addition to the challenge of forming a government for the crisis-ridden country, he will now have to win the trust of fiercely rival Shiite factions.
More than a year after general elections left Iraq in political paralysis, Sudani, 52, has been appointed minister through new President Abdul Latif Rashid, replacing Mustafa al-Kadhemi, in office since 2020.
Sudani, a former lawmaker, governor and influential minister, enjoys the support of influential pro-Iranian factions of the Coordination Framework.
But he will face a primary task to win that of his rivals, the millions of stalwart ers of the fierce cleric Moqtada Sadr.
Sudani, born in 1970, was just a nine-year-old boy when his father was executed for his opposition to Saddam Hussein.
After the US-led invasion in 2003, Sudanese gained prominence within the Shiite political leadership.
With a degree in agricultural sciences, he rose through the ranks of the civil service, governor of Maysan, the oil-rich province bordering Iran.
In 2010, he began his political career in the capital Baghdad, ascended to the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Minister of Human Rights, then Minister of Social Affairs, then of Industry.
Today, it is with Maliki’s key and the pro-Tehran Coordination Framework that Sudani will have to forge a government.
Dressed in dark business suits and a bushy mustache with neatly trimmed hair, the father of five embarked on the electoral crusade after the coordination framework nominated him in July.
As he sought to win over opposition lawmakers, he presented, like his predecessors, ambitious programs that promised to fight endemic corruption and rebuild crumbling infrastructure left in ruins during years of war.
When his call was presented in 2019 as a possible candidate for prime minister amid massive anti-government street protests denouncing the political elite, Sudani made little progress.
“He has no evil beyond that and there are no massive corruption charges opposing him,” said Sajad Jiyad, an investigator with the Century International tank.
“But the fact that he’s not known as a reformer, the fact that he’s part of the established political elite, doesn’t guarantee that he can be another one of them. “
When he appointed him in July through the pro-Tehran coordination cadre, Sadr’s angry supporters violated the Green Zone and stormed parliament in protest.
For Sadr, Sudani is seen as “close” to his former enemy Maliki, Jiyad said.
“For the Sadrists, this is a problem,” he added. They say that he (the Sudanese) needs to defeat the Sadrists politically. . . that if he has the chance, he will crush the Sadrists. “
Sudani, who started in Maliki’s rule of law, founded his own in 2021, Al-Furatain, with a total of 3 lawmakers in parliament.
“He is a statesman,” said Bashar al-Saidi, his party’s deputy secretary-general. “He dominates ministerial work. . . and how to handle political and administrative affairs. “
Among his priorities will be “the passage of a budget,” “alleviating poverty and unemployment,” and recovering public health and adding electricity, Saidi said.
His to-do list will also come with the organization of new elections.
Sudani, potentially to avoid demands already made through Sadr for early elections, said a new vote would take a position “within a year and a half. “He called the Sadrists “a wonderful popular and patriotic movement. “
Hamzeh Hadad, a visiting tank member at the European Council on Foreign Relations, spoke of its “potential popularity” among the public.
“He already has intelligent relationships with political parties across the spectrum, so the first calls against his candidacy were personal, but the circumstance of being the candidate of the Coordination Framework,” Hadad said.
Like Kadhemi, his predecessor as minister, Sudani represents “the next generation of Iraqi politicians” who came to force after Saddam’s ouster.
And, as prime minister with the Framework candidate, he will be “more autonomous in his functions” than his two predecessors, considered by some to be “compromise candidates,” Hadad added.