A deadline set by Iraq's president for parliament to name a new premier was set to expire Saturday amid renewed pressure from the street after influential cleric Moqtada Sadr called for fresh protests.
Baghdad and the mainly Shiite south have been gripped by four months of anti-government rallies demanding snap elections, a politically independent prime minister and accountability for corruption and protest-related violence.
Faced with pressure from the street and from the Shiite religious leadership, Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi resigned in December after just over a year in office.
But rival parties have failed to agree on a successor, stoking fears of a spiral into chaos as the country tries to navigate the protests and rising tensions between its two main allies, Iran and the United States.
In a bid to restore some stability, President Barham Saleh sent a letter to the deeply divided parliament this week saying he would nominate a premier unilaterally if lawmakers did not do so by Saturday.
The ultimatum sent parties into crisis talks but on Saturday, there was still no clear consensus.
"There's no agreement, no way to end the rivalries so far," a top government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"And if Saleh names someone on his own, there will be a crisis because that shouldn't be his role."
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