Iraqi Parliament fills three key ministerial posts after months of disagreements

The Iraqi Parliament on Monday in a majority vote elected three candidates to key ministerial posts in the government of Adil Abdul-Mahdi, months after the federal election.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) — The Iraqi Parliament on Monday in a majority vote elected three candidates to key ministerial posts in the government of Adil Abdul-Mahdi, months after the federal election.

The parliament elected Najah Hassan al-Shamari as Minister of Defense, Yaseen al-Yasiri for the Minister of Interior, and Farouq Amin Shwani as the Minister of Justice, a lawmaker told Kurdistan 24.

Safana al-Hamdani, a candidate for the Minister of Education, failed to receive enough votes in parliament, the lawmaker added.

Shamari is a Sunni Arab and senior Iraqi military officer who was supported and nominated by Ayad Allawi, the former Prime Minister and vice-President of Iraq.

Yasiri is backed by Ammar al-Hakim, a senior Shia leader, whose parliamentary bloc with 19 seats recently announced they would play the role of the opposition during this parliamentary term.

Shwani is a high-ranking Kurdish judge born in the province of Kirkuk. He was the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) candidate. His nomination was the result of a PUK agreement with the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which previously insisted on the post and presented a competing candidate. 

Hamdani was the candidate of Iraqi Sunni leader Khamis Khanjar. It is the second candidate for the post backed by Khanjar to be rejected.

The aforementioned posts had been left empty for many months due to disagreements between the major parliamentary blocs.

Editing by Nadia Riva