Sami al-Askari, on foreign relations committee, close to al-Maliki

Haider al-Abadi, MP from Maliki's Dawa party

Hadi al-Amiri, head of the Badr Organization, the former armed wing of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, the country's largest Shiite political party

Jalal al-Din al-Saghir, a senior lawmaker from the Supreme Council