ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Former intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi has been approved as Iraq's new prime minister, ending five months of political stalemate.
Former PM Adil-Abdul Mahdi resigned in late November following widespread anti-government protests that spread across Iraq's central and southern provinces.
The Iraqi parliament approved Kadhimi’s government at an emergency session held early Thursday morning, after appointing over half of the ministers on his proposed cabinet list. The prime minister was sworn in after meeting the threshold needed to form his government.
Serving as the head of Iraq's National Intelligence Service (NIS) from 2016, Kadhimi had revised his proposed cabinet several times in recent weeks to appeal to various political factions in Baghdad. He is the third person to serve as prime minister-designate since Abdul-Mahdi's resignation, with previous candidates unable to appease vying groups in parliament.
The following ministers have been approved by the parliament.
1. Juma Inad - defense minister
2. Osman Ghanimi - interior minister
3. Ali Allawi - finance minister
4. Khalid Najim - planning minister
5. Hassan Mohammed - health minister
6. Majid Mahdi - electricity minister
7. Adnan Dirjal - sports and youth minister
8. Manhal Aziz - industry minister
9. Arkan Shahab - communications minister
10. Adil Hashush - labor minister
11. Ali Hamid - education minister
12. Nazanin Mohammed - reconstruction, housing and municipality minister
13. Nabil Abdulsahib - higher education and technology minister
14. Mahdi Rashid - minister of water resources
15. Nasir Hussein - transport minister
The names rejected by lawmakers for ministerial posts include Ali Nawar Nasif as trade minister, Hashim Salih as culture minister, Ali Ismael as agriculture minister and Hikmat Nasir as migration and displacement minister.
Voting for the foreign and oil ministers has been delayed until further notice.
Nazanin Mohammed, voted in as reconstruction, housing and municipality minister, is the only Kurd and woman approved to Kadhimi’s cabinet.
Earlier in the evening, state media channel Iraqiya claimed that two other Kurds would hold ministerial posts in Kadhimi's cabinet, including Fuad Hussein as foreign minister, and Khalid Shwani as justice minister.
Mustafa Abdulrahman, a prominent Kurdish politician and former governor of Kirkuk, was instead proposed and rejected as justice minister.
Many Kurdish and Iraqi officials predict that the post of the foreign minister will inevitably go to a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) candidate, most notably Hussein who served as finance minister under Adil Abdul Mahdi’s outgoing cabinet.
When completed, Kadhimi's proposed cabinet is to include 12 ministers from Shiite parties, six from Sunni parties, three from Kurdish parties, and one from a minority group, according to Dana Katib, a KDP member of parliament in Baghdad.
Appointed as PM-designate by Iraqi President Barham Salih early last month, Kadhimi was given a 30-day deadline - ending on May 9- to compose and present a cabinet to parliament.
Appointments to the PM-designate role have twice been unsuccessful. Both candidates - former communications minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi, then three-term Najaf governor and Nasr parliamentary bloc leader Adnan al-Zurfi – met with fierce opposition from some political blocs, and lukewarm reluctance by others. Both were rejected by Iraq’s young protesters as members of the same tired establishment they hope to overthrow.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani took to Twitter on Thursday morning to congratulate Kadhimi.
I congratulate Mr. Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on his election as the new Prime Minister of Iraq and wish him the best. I hope his government succeeds in providing security, stability, and services for Iraqis and reinstates the constitutional rights of the Kurdistan Region.
— Nechirvan Barzani (@IKRPresident) May 7, 2020
Updated at 9.02AM
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