Iraqi parliament failed to vote for cabinet reshuffle

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region, (Kurdistan24) – Amid tensions between political parties, the Iraqi parliament postponed elections for Haider al-Abadi’s cabinet reshuffle to Thursday.

On Tuesday, Iraqi parliament convened its normal session as the Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, presented new names for the cabinet reshuffle for the parliament to vote. In a prior agreement between the parliament speaker and Abadi, the session to vote on Abadi’s proposed candidates for ministerial positions was delayed.

Muthana Amin, a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament, told Kurdistan24 on the phone, “There was an agreement before the parliament session between the PM, Saleem al-Jibouri speaker of the parliament, and the leaders of parliament blocs to put off the vote of confidence.”

“After Jibouri ended the session, some MPs stormed the speaker’s chair in protest to the vote postponement on the cabinet and vowed to elect new parliament leadership,” Amin added.

Khasro Goran, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party bloc in the parliament, told Kurdistan24, “Today, Haider al-Abadi presented a list of 14 nominees for the ministerial positions in the cabinet reshuffle, except for the Kurdish ministerial positions and ministries of Defense and Interior.”

Due to the tensions and disagreements among the political parties over the nominees for the ministerial positions, and after two hours in the meeting, the majority decided to resume voting after 48 hours, Goran said.

According to Goran, the tensions in the parliament is because Sunni and Shia parties are not united among themselves and have internal disputes. “We as representatives of the Kurdistan Region are united in all matters,” he added.

Reporting by Baxtiyar Goran
Editing by Ava Homa