State Of Law Alliance Accuses Parliament Speaker of Violations During Iraq Cabinet Vote
Hisham al-Rikabi said the handling of the cabinet voting session violated parliamentary norms and was aimed at preventing Qassem Atta from securing the Interior Ministry.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Hisham al-Rikabi, director of the media office of the head of the State of Law Coalition, accused Iraq’s parliament speaker on Friday of committing procedural violations during the parliamentary session that granted confidence to Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s new cabinet.
In a post published on the social media platform X on Friday, Rikabi said the method used to read the names of cabinet candidates differed from the format originally submitted by Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi and contradicted parliamentary traditions and procedures followed during the formation of previous Iraqi governments.
Rikabi stated that throughout the formation of the previous six governments, the Interior Ministry had consistently appeared among the first three ministries due to its sovereign and security-related status.
However, he argued that the order was changed “abnormally” during the latest cabinet session.
According to Rikabi, the alteration raises suspicions and indicates “a prior intention” to block Fareeq Qassem Atta from passing the parliamentary vote and to deprive him of the position that he said had been allocated to him under political entitlement agreements.
Rikabi also accused the parliament speaker of using improper procedures during the voting and vote-counting process.
He claimed that vote counting was not assigned to specialized parliamentary staff and alleged that the entire voting process lasted only one minute.
In his remarks, Rikabi insisted that claims suggesting Qassem Atta failed to secure enough votes were inaccurate.
He stressed that Atta had, in fact, obtained the required parliamentary majority and described the decision to exclude him as “unilateral” and contrary to the facts.
The accusations come amid growing political tensions following Thursday’s parliamentary confidence vote for Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s cabinet, which has already triggered divisions inside Iraq’s Coordination Framework and disputes among several Shiite political factions.