BAGHDAD (AP) – Iraq’s Parliament gave its vote of confidence to a new Cabinet on Thursday, breaking a yearlong political stalemate.
A majority of the 253 lawmakers present voted to appoint 21 ministers, with two posts – the Construction and Housing Ministry and the Environment Ministry – remaining undecided.
Despite those two unresolved appointments, the approved Cabinet line-up constitutes a quorum.
The Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani is the first since 2005 that does not include seats for the bloc of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Along with the Cabinet post appointments, Parliament approved a programme that includes amending the elections law within three months of the ministers being sworn in, with early elections to be held within a year after that. The document also calls for measures to fight corruption, speed up reconstruction of areas damaged by armed conflict and return the displaced to their homes. It also calls for the elimination of “uncontrolled weapons” held by non-state actors.
Al-Sudani said ahead of the vote that the new government will combat “the epidemic of corruption that has affected all aspects of life… and has been the cause of many economic problems, weakening the state’s authority, increasing poverty, unemployment, and poor public services”. He also promised the Cabinet will work to build the capabilities of local governments and to “find sustainable solutions to the outstanding issues with Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government through a true partnership based on rights and duties”.
Former prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, speaking after the vote, defended his own government’s record and urged all political blocs to “support every endeavour of the new government on the path of stability and growth and defending democracy and human rights”.
