Iraqi Parliament fails to vote on eight remaining ministers, postpones session

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Parliament on Tuesday afternoon convened to vote on the eight remaining ministers of the newly-formed federal government, but a boycott from some factions and confrontations between lawmakers postponed the session.

The session started with 168 lawmakers out of 329 in attendance to vote on candidates and complete Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi’s new government cabinet.

The eight proposed candidates were: Dara Noreldin as Minister of Justice, Falih Fayyadh as Minister of Interior, Faysal Jarba as Minister of Defense, Nouri al-Dulaimi as Minister of Planning, Abdul-Amir al-Hamdani as Minister of Culture, Qusai Abdul-Wahab as Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Saba al-Tayi as Minister of Education, and Hana Amanweli as Minister of Migration and Displacement.

Soon after the session began, a confrontation erupted among the lawmakers, namely from a faction of the Sairoon Coalition, who secured 53 seats in Iraq’s May 12 national election. Sairoon has repeatedly expressed its opposition to Fayyadh as a candidate for Minister of Interior.

Many of the factions also left and boycotted the session, including the Kurdish blocs. The session was halted for half an hour as fistfights broke out between some of the lawmakers. Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi along with his candidates then left the meeting and, as a result, the parliament’s leadership postponed the session to Thursday.

Abdul-Mahdi along with 14 ministers were sworn in on Oct. 25, but since then, he has been unable to complete his cabinet due to disagreements between major factions in the parliament about the proposed candidates.

In the meantime, other elected ministers temporarily lead the vacant ministries.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany