Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Baghdad, Nov 7, (VOI) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Wednesday that nominations for new ministers to fill vacant ministerial posts will soon take place.

“We have reached the final stage in the nominations of new ministers and we will work hard for the progress of Iraq,” al-Maliki said during a meeting with ambassadors from European Union countries.

Under the chairmanship of Attiyah, who belongs to the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC), the largest parliamentary bloc, the Iraqi parliament on Tuesday approved the appointment of two new ministers to replace Sadrist ministers who quit the cabinet six months ago.

The decision aroused great opposition from parliamentarians who said the vote was unconstitutional, but Attiyah explained that a federal court ruling deemed the vote legal.

The IAF, which holds 44 seats in the 275-member parliament, said it will challenge the legitimacy of the vote and will not accept its results.

The Iraqi cabinet has been suffering since the withdrawal of a number of political blocs from the government. In April 2007, the Sadrist bloc, which holds 30 seats in the 275-member Iraqi parliament, withdrew its six ministers from al-Maliki’s government and called for the appointment of technocrat replacements. Four ministers and a deputy prime minister from the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), with 44 seats in parliament, also withdrew from the government. The Iraqi National List (INL), led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and has 22 seats in the parliament, ordered its four ministers to quit the cabinet, but some declined.

A statement signed by representatives from the IAF, the Sadrist bloc, the INL, the National Dialogue Front (NDF), and the Independent Arab Bloc described the vote as “illegal” due to the absence of the quorum.