Mohammed Shia al-Sudani speaks during a statement at the special session on Iraq of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 1, 2014 (AP photo by Salvatore Di Nolfi).

After more than nine months of deadlock following parliamentary elections last year, Iraq appears to be on the verge of forming a government. The Coordination Framework, a parliamentary bloc that includes Iran-backed Shiite militias, has nominated Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as its candidate for prime minister. The nomination of al-Sudani by the Shiite bloc could thread the needle, as analyst Hamzeh Haddad writes, by producing an Iraqi government stable enough to make tough but necessary policy decisions, but not so polarizing as to spark a renewed round of civil conflict between rival Shiite camps.