ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Tuesday requested a parliamentary session later this week to vote on candidates for nine vacant ministries and deputy prime minister positions, nearly five months after his government received a vote of confidence.
In an official letter addressed to the parliament speaker, Zaidi called for a session on Thursday to complete his cabinet “to present and vote on candidates for deputy prime minister positions, vacant ministries, and newly established ministries.”
The premier stressed that the proposed deputy prime ministers would serve “without salaries, financial allocations, or new appointments to their offices.”
This comes as nine ministries have remained vacant since Zaidi’s appointment amid political disputes and disagreements over the voting process. The vacant portfolios include interior, defense, labor and social affairs, migration and displaced, housing and reconstruction, planning, culture, higher education, and youth and sports.
The request follows an announcement by parties within the ruling Shiite-led Coordination Framework that they had reached a “final agreement” on candidates for the remaining ministries.
Mohammed al-Baldawi, head of the Sadiqoon parliamentary bloc - the political wing of the US-designated Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq - told Rudaw's Gashaw Khalid at the time that disagreements over the nominations had been resolved.
Disagreements within the Coordination Framework, particularly between former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition and Sadiqoon, have delayed the cabinet's completion.
One major dispute concerned Sadiqoon's demand for a deputy prime minister position, while Maliki opposed proposals to create four such posts, arguing they would increase government spending.
The Interior Ministry has also been contested. State of Law spokesperson Aqeel al-Fatlawi told Rudaw earlier this month that Yasir al-Maliki, head of the coalition's parliamentary bloc, was its “sole and fixed” candidate for the position. Maliki had previously backed the former security spokesperson Qasim Atta for the ministry, but Atta faced opposition from Sadiqoon and other political forces.
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Democratic Party has maintained its nomination of Rebaz Hamlan for the Housing and Reconstruction Ministry after he failed to secure parliamentary approval in May.
