Iraqi parliament approves new Maliki government

IRAQ’S PARLIAMENT yesterday unanimously approved the 42 ministers in prime minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government of national unity 9½ months after the assembly election.

Ten of the appointees are acting ministers subject to change and Mr Maliki is set to retain the sensitive ministries of defence and interior and national security for up to three months until agreement can be reached on candidates.

In an address to lawmakers ahead of the vote, Mr Maliki’s chief rival for the top job, Iyad Allawi, expressed satisfaction over the line-up.

Until agreeing to join the government, Mr Allawi had claimed the right to be prime minister as his Iraqiya bloc won most seats in the assembly. He expects to be chief of a national security council which has yet to be voted into law.

The appointment as deputy premier of Iraqiya’s Saleh al-Mutlaq symbolised the return of Sunnis and secularists to government. Mr Mutlaq is a Sunni and former Baathist who was barred last year from participating in political life. On Saturday, parliament lifted the banning order, a demand set by Iraqiya for participating in the government.

Key posts have been allocated along ethnic-sectarian lines.

Kurdish incumbent Hoshyar Zebari remains foreign minister, Shia Hussein al-Shahristani has been promoted from oil minister to deputy premier for energy, and Sunni Rafi al-Essawi has been given the finance portfolio.

As the session got under way, Kurdish woman legislator Ala Talabani protested that only one woman had been chosen – for the women’s affairs ministry – and called for more women to be given portfolios held by interim appointees.

By law, a quarter of the seats in the assembly are reserved for women but this quota has not been reflected in the cabinet.

Women were not the only dissatisfied group. Radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who facilitated the process of forming a cabinet when he agreed, under pressure from Iran, to back Mr Maliki, is aggrieved because he feels his party been slighted.

Although Mr Maliki has defeated his opponents – including Iraqiya and the Sadrists – and secured a second term, he is not trusted by many Iraqis, legislators and citizens alike. His decision to retain the security ministries has deepened this mistrust.

Kurdish deputy Mahmoud Othman said: “Everybody complained in the past that he was trying to control the security forces, that he works alone, and this is continuation of the same story.”

Amir al-Kinani, a Sadrist, said: “It’s an attempt by him to control the security agencies because he is afraid and he doesn’t trust the other factions.”

Mr Maliki achieved his aim of forming a government ahead of the December 25th deadline in spite of severe sectarian and ethnic disagreements that could yet disrupt the implementation of his 43-point political programme.

This could seriously undermine the credibility of the government with Iraqis already frustrated over parliament’s inability to deal with unemployment, electricity shortages, and insecurity as politicians squabbled over posts.