Will Iraq's prime minister fail to complete his Cabinet?
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has not been able to complete his Cabinet, despite the fact that more than two months have passed since he was appointed to the job.
For the second time in less than two months, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has left the Iraqi parliament building without a complete Cabinet. There were hopes that he would complete the Cabinet in the first or second session, but he wasn't able to see it through.
Three months after President Barham Salih tasked him with forming the government, he still has not been able to convince the political blocs with his remaining candidates for five ministries: justice, education, interior, defense and migration.
Abdul Mahdi proposed names of ministers during two previous parliamentary sessions, but he could not get parliament’s approval of five ministers because political blocs do not agree on them. The most controversial is the Ministry of Interior since Sairoon Alliance leader Muqtada al-Sadr does not want Faleh al-Fayyad in charge of it.
Despite political disapproval of the five remaining ministers outside the parliamentary sessions, Abdul Mahdi told political blocs that he would not replace his candidates unless they were rejected in parliamentary sessions. At the same time, he asserted that he has alternative names.
