Iraqi parliament to convene for first time in three months

BAGHDAD, Iraq— After three months of virtual shutdown, the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad has summoned members for a general session on Tuesday for the first time amid lingering divisions over Prime Minister Haidar Abadi’s proposed cabinet. 

Lawmaker Musanna Amin told Rudaw his fellow Kurdish MPs will also be present at the general assembly after they left the Iraqi parliament in late April following a sit-in that turned violent. 

Several Kurdish MPs were attacked by crowds of rioters who were believed to be Shiite cleric Muqtda al-Sadrs supporters accusing the parliament and the government of corruption. 

The parliament is due to discuss Abadi’s cabinet members who still hope for an endorsement from an unreceptive parliament with both Kurdish and Sunni groups rejecting the reshuffling of their cabinet ministers.

Prime Minister Abadi’s efforts to reshuffle most of his cabinet minsters collapsed as both Kurdish and Sunni factions announced they would not take part in his so called technocratic government.

It is unclear how the prime minister will have his government endorsed while both Kurds and Sunnis have declared they will vote against the reshuffling in the parliament.    

On April 12, an inconclusive majority in the Iraqi parliament voted for the removal of Saleem Jabbori who came to office in July 2014 following a broad agreement among Iraqi factions. 

Iraq’s federal court ruled last month against the decision to replace the speaker.