Maliki said on Iraqi television Sunday night that he would go to court against the country’s president, Fouad Masoum, to keep his premiership after Masoum failed to direct him and his bloc in parliament to form a new government. “What is happening today is a coup against the constitution, a deliberate violation of it by the president,” he said in a statement. Maliki’s State of Law bloc won the most seats in April’s elections but has not yet formed a government to battle Sunni insurgents in the north that call themselves the Islamic State, leading many around the world to blame the collapse of Iraq on Maliki. The Financial Times reported that the prime minister had ordered security forces to high alert amid fears in the city that he would attempt to retain his office by force.
[cnn]