BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is seeking to form a government of independent technocrats away from the quotas system, the political process that Iraq has grown accustomed to over the past 13 years. Under the system, the political positions are divided according to the quotas distributed among the main components of the country — Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. However, the steps that the prime minister is taking in forming the government of independent technocrats has faced obstacles, most notably political and popular demands for him to leave the Islamic Dawa Party with which he is affiliated.

Abadi became prime minister of Iraq on Aug. 11, 2014, when President Fuad Masum assigned him to form a government, after the Iraqi political blocs refused to grant his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki, a chance to get a third term, forcing him to waive his third term in favor of his fellow party member, Abadi.

On March 2, Hanan al-Fatlawi, member of parliament (MP) and head of the Irada block — an independent block that has no governmental position and only one parliamentary seat — demanded that Abadi, her former colleague in the State of Law coalition, should either resign from his position as head of the government or declare a state of emergency and ask the parliament to vote on it.

She noted in a press statement, "Abadi came up with the ministerial change to distract the Iraqi street and waste time until the end of the current election round. The current ministers in the Iraqi government are not working seriously, and the ministries are almost paralyzed because of the anticipated ministerial change sought by Abadi."