The two candidates who attracted most attention were Maliki's sons-in-law, who work in his office: Hussein Ahmed Maliki (Abu Rahab) and Yasser Abdul Sakhil Maliki.
In fact, the names of the two have been increasingly circulating in political and media circles in recent years, which is an indication of a rise in their influence that has been associated with the growing power of Maliki's office. As Maliki felt that other forces have been trying to restrict his freedom and make him fail, he sought to circumvent constitutional institutions by delegating powers to acting officials or maximizing entities that are directly associated to him, such as the office of the prime minister.
This tendency has grown during Maliki’s second term to the extent that Ahmed Chalabi, the leader in the Shiite Citizen Coalition, stated in December 2013, “The government is currently administered by Maliki and a small circle of relatives and loyalists."
Maliki is no different from most Iraqi officials who came to office and surrounded themselves with their close associates and cronies. However, with his consolidation of power over the past few years, the influence of the prime minister's relatives has increased, overshadowing their counterparts in the offices of other officials.
Moreover, Maliki did not appoint his relatives only to get his political opponents off his back, but also to weaken his rivals in the Islamic Dawa Party, whose other leaders continue to believe that Maliki owes his position to the historical role of their party.
It seems that in the current period the Dawa Party’s role has declined, as the influence of other figures and forces linked to Maliki has increased.
Maliki, on the other hand, sees the party — with its limited ideological and organizational nature — insufficient to reflect bigger alliances and interests, which have spawned within the government bureaucracy and the military institution in the framework of the State of Law Coalition and its close forces.
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