BAGHDAD — Iraq’s parliament passed a law Saturday intended to block Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki from a third term, as the premier faced growing pressure from mass street protests.



The legislation still needs the president’s approval and will face challenges in federal court after Maliki’s supporters rejected it as illegal.



The law, restricting the posts of prime minister, parliament speaker and president to two four-year terms, was approved as the premier tried to end weeks of protests against his government. “Parliament succeeded today in passing an important law to limit the terms of three posts, including the prime minister’s,” said Khalid Shwani, head of parliament legal panel.



Parliamentary elections are due early in 2014. First elected in 2005, Maliki was re-elected in 2010 in an indecisive ballot that led to the formation of a fragile power-sharing government split among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties. Kurdish parties, the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc and even some rivals in Maliki’s own Shiite coalition failed last year to trigger a vote of no confidence against a prime minister they accuse of accumulating power at their expense.



Since the last American troops left Iraq about a year ago, Shiite, Sunni Muslim and ethnic Kurdish parties have been caught in a power-sharing stalemate that has left key legislation on oil and investment paralyzed in parliament. — Reuters