BAGHDAD, Iraq - Kurdish lawmakers in in the Iraqi parliament have said they would oppose any cabinet that failed to meet their demand for 20 percent of the ministerial positions.
Speaking at a press conference in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, the Kurdish MPs repeated an early demand in return for their full support of the ongoing government restructuring that Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has promised.
“We have made it clear to Prime Minister Abadi that the current 13 percent of the ministerial posts -- which is our share in the present government -- is utterly unjust and indefensible,” Kurdish lawmaker Hoshiar Abdulla said.
“If the prime minister wants our support, then he should make sure we have our full electoral share, which is one-fifth of the government offices,” Abdulla said.
Kurds hold three of the 20 ministerial posts in the current administration, including finance, migration and the ministry of culture.
But the embattled Abadi could hardly secure his own survival in the future cabinet, as the more powerful Shiite rivals seem to gradually set the rules of the game and give him much narrower space to play.
The return of the flamboyant Shiite cleric, Muqtada al- Sadr, to the chaotic political scene in Baghdad this weekend, had almost immediate implications for the fragile process in the deeply fragmented country.
Sadr, who has divided his time between the two holy Shiite cities of Najaf in Iraq and Qom in Iran -- where he has been studying to become an Ayatollah -- has given the government several ultimatums to carry out what he has called “radical reforms.”
Sadr says the new ministers should be appointed based on their meritocratic reference away from any partisan affiliations.
But his idea of a ”technocratic cabinet” was not well received in Baghdad, as his critics accused him of undermining institutional rules in the country.
Sadr on Sunday entered Baghdad's Green Zone, the heavily-fortified center of the capital that houses government offices and embassies. He said he was starting a sit-in to keep up pressure on the government to enact reforms.
“We have discussed the pressure and the threat that the Sadr-supporters have posed on the parliament and government offices in the Green Zone, which need to be taken seriously,” said Ala Talabani, a Kurdish MP in Baghdad.
“They have given us ultimatums and we really don’t know how serious they are,” she added, referring to intensified daily protests by supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr who have threatened to storm government offices if the reforms fail to produce results.
“This is a parliamentary system. In order for a minister to be endorsed, he or she needs to secure the support of the parliament,” said parliament’s Deputy Speaker Aram Muhammad, a Kurd, referring to Sadr’s demand that the ministers should not be party loyalists.
“It is not practical. How can the parliament vote for a minister who is not their choice? And why do we have elections in the first place?” Muhammad asked in an interview with Rudaw.
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