Iraq prime minister will not seek third term

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Saturday he will not run for a third time when his current term ends in 2014, according to a semi-official news channel, the Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported.

"I will not run for a third term and I go for the notion of no more than two terms in office constitutionally," Maliki said, as cited by the news channel.

The prime minister was assigned to form the first elected Iraqi government in May 2006 during a period of sectarian violence described as the toughest since the downfall of the former Iraqi regime in 2003. Al-Maliki won a second term in office on November 25, 2010, after nine months of political deadlock.

(BNO NEWS )