Iraq replaces 6 ministers in contested cabinet reshuffle

The Iraqi parliament has finally endorsed six new ministers proposed under a cabinet reshuffle plan by Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi despite attempts by dozens of deputies opposed to changes to block the chamber meeting. 

Speaker Salim al-Jabouri convened the parliament session which reached a quorum on Tuesday with 170 deputies voting on the nominees proposed by Abadi for the ministries.

Local media said the parliament approved Ala Ghani for the post of ministry of health while Hassan al-Janabi was picked to take on as minister of water. Waffa al-Mahdavi obtained enough votes to become Iraq’s new labor minister while Ali Abdurazzaq Issa was endorsed as minister of higher education. Ali Ala Dashar was also endorsed to take on as minister of electricity and Aqil al-Mahdi was picked for the culture ministry portfolio.  

An initial endorsement of Ali Hussain for the post of ministry of education was later challenged by lawmakers of the Ahrar bloc, which represents powerful Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Hussain along with Muhammad Nasrallah, Abadi’s nominee for ministry of Justice, failed to gain votes.

Reports said Jabouri extended the vote to Wednesday as many on Abadi’s third list have failed to be elected by the lawmakers. The political parties have given Abadi 48 hours to replace those candidates with new figures.

The vote was held in a second hall of the parliament as around 100 deputies, who are reportedly close to former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and have opposed Abadi and Jabouri, entered the main chamber and interrupted the session, banging their fists on tables and calling for the speaker to step down.

The vote came hours after tens of thousands of Sadr supporters took to the streets of Baghdad, urging the government to implement reforms. The protesters joined people who have been holding a sit-in in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad since two weeks ago, making the gathering the biggest in the capital in weeks. Local media said demonstrators filled a main road stretching nearly two km (1.3 miles) from Tahrir to the Green Zone, a heavily fortified area which is home to main government offices and the parliament.

Iraq has been the scene of a political turmoil in the past weeks over Abadi’s efforts to form a new cabinet. A delay in the vote on a second list proposed by Abadi has also spurred a separate sit-in inside the parliament, with lawmakers close to rival parties demanding top political leadership including Abadi and parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri, to step down. Followers of Sadr say those involved in the chamber sit-in are using the political turmoil to their benefit.

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