The Iraqi parliament on Tuesday gave Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government a vote of confidence and adopted a 43-point programme aimed at liberalising the economy and fighting terrorism. After more than nine months of political deadlock and wrangling, parliament in separate votes gave its approval to Maliki, three deputy prime ministers and 31 other cabinet ministers, as well as the government programme.
And it approved interim ministers for the remaining ten cabinet posts, with Maliki controlling the three security portfolios, and seven other ministers also serving as acting ministers for the vacant posts. Maliki said he had delayed proposing the remaining ministers because he needed more time to evaluate the options, having received some CVs as late as Tuesday.
"I need more time to choose better, and I will continue to study the files to be able to choose on the basis of efficiency and professionalism," he said. He also pointed to the lack of women candidates as a reason for the delay. "I find myself obliged... to wait for the political entities to present women candidates," he said. There is only one woman, Minister of State Bushra Hussein Saleh of the Shia National Alliance, among the ministers approved on Tuesday, while there were four women in the previous government.
For his part, ex-premier Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya bloc won narrowly more seats than Maliki's in the March 7 election but was unable to forge a parliamentary majority, announced his support for the government. "We wish and we hope for this government to succeed in meeting the people's requirements," Allawi said, adding that to advance this goal, "we are announcing our full support for the government." US President Barack Obama on Tuesday congratulated Iraq on the parliamentary approval of a new government, saying it was a "significant" historic moment and represented a rejection of extremism.
Britain also welcomed the move, with British Foreign Secretary William Hague saying it would allow Baghdad to start tackling the country's problems. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said, "I wish to congratulate PM al-Maliki and all political entities for having reached this agreement," and a UN spokesperson said that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "also congratulates Iraq's political leaders."Of the 35 cabinet posts that have been finally distributed, the National Alliance bloc holds 19, Iraqiya nine, the Kurdish Alliance four, and other smaller parties three.
Iraq's latest crop of ministers include Hoshyar Zebari of the Kurdish Alliance, who has been in every government since 2003, as foreign minister, outgoing deputy prime minister Rafa al-Essawi of Iraqiya as finance minister and former deputy oil minister Abdulkarim al-Luaybi as minister of oil.