Confidence vote on new Iraqi government delayed — MPs…

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s major political forces have postponed a
confidence vote in the new government planned for Saturday, amid persistent
haggling over the allocation of cabinet posts, lawmakers said.اضافة اعلان

Prime minister-designate Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani was
tapped to form a new government on October 13, raising hopes of an end to a
year of deadlock since Iraq’s last election, but the Shiite nominee has been
locked in talks with potential partners over who gets which min-istry.

“The session has been postponed,” said Kurdistan
Democratic Party lawmaker Sherwan Dubardany.

“Mr Sudani has not managed to reach agreement with
the political blocs on cabinet appointments. We hope that in the coming days
the blocs will come to understandings that allow a new date to be set.”

The Coalition for the Administration of the State
had said just Tues-day that they intended to hold the confidence vote this
week.

The coalition includes the Coordination Framework,
an alliance of powerful pro-Iran Shiite factions that holds 138 out of 329
seats in parliament.

Other members include a Sunni grouping led by
parliament speaker Mohamed Al-Halbussi, and two key Kurdish parties.

Under a power-sharing system adopted in Iraq in the
aftermath of the US-led invasion of 2003, cabinet posts are shared between
Iraq’s eth-nic and confessional communities.

“There will be no session on Saturday,” said Thabet
Al-Abbasi, a lawmaker from Sunni Arab bloc Al-Siyada, adding that he hoped a
new cabinet line-up would be thrashed out soon.

Under the constitution, Sudani has 30 days from his
nomination to win a confidence vote in parliament.

The Coordination Framework’s main rivals from Iraq’s Shiite
majority community, the movement of populist cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, has
al-ready said it will not join Sudani’s government.

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