After two months of political deadlock, Iraqi President Barham Salih on Saturday appointed Mohammed Allawi to replace caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who resigned in late November in the face of widespread anti-government protests.
The prime minister-designate has a month to form a government, which must be approved by the country's deeply divided Parliament. He is tasked with running the country until an early election is held, for which there is no set date.
The appointment of Allawi, a former communications minister, followed an ultimatum by Salih, who had said he would pick a new prime minister himself if parties did not agree on a candidate.
But his choice was instantly rejected by protesters who have for months defied a bloody crackdown to demand a complete overhaul of the country's ruling class.
"Mohammed Allawi is rejected," demonstrators in Baghdad's Tahrir Square chanted on Saturday, dismissing the prime-minister designate as being part and parcel of Iraq's post-2003 political establishment.
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