Sudani was tapped to form Iraq’s next government on October 13, after more than a year of political bickering since the parliamentary elections in October 2021. The PM-designate will have 30 days to name all ministers of his cabinet, or risk losing the position if he fails to do so.
The Running the State Coalition on Tuesday invited MPs of the Iraqi parliament to hold a session on Saturday aimed at voting on the new government's ministers, but the session was ultimately postponed as haggling continued over the allocation of the cabinet’s posts.
A statement from Sudani’s office on Sunday said that the PM-designate continues his talks with the political powers that have decided to participate in the new government, adding that interviewing the candidates for the ministerial positions will be conducted by a “specialized committee” of advisors.
“The official announcement for the candidates that have been selected to take on the responsibilities will be made once the interviews are concluded and the legal background of the candidates is ensured,” the statement added.
An official from the Euphrates Movement, which is headed by Sudani, told Rudaw’s Hastyar Qadir earlier in the day that the PM-designate has already approved most of the candidates that have been presented by the political blocs for the positions in the cabinet.
“The possibility of major changes in the distribution of the ministries between the political blocs is very little, even though he [Sudani] has been given the authority to do so,” said Bashar al-Saadi, the deputy Secretary-General of the Euphrates Movement, adding that all efforts are being made to present the full cabinet line-up by the end of the week.
