Basra backs Mostafa Sanad for Communications Ministry hours before cabinet vote

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Two senior Basra-linked political figures reversed course Thursday on the Communications Ministry portfolio, throwing their support behind MP Mustafa Sanad hours after a document emerged naming a rival candidate for the same post.

Sheikh Hamam Hamoudi, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, and Basra Governor Asaad al-Eidani issued a joint statement describing Sanad's nomination as "a qualitative youth addition to the new government." The two said the presence of Basra's qualified figures in the incoming cabinet was "important and fair to its people."

Earlier today, a separate document, attributed to al-Eidani's Istimrar party and addressed to Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi, had circulated publicly naming Mohsen al-Mandlawi as the party's candidate for the Communications portfolio. That document also declared an alliance with the Al-Asas coalition, and the signatories were "not concerned with" candidates put forward by the Tasmeem alliance, the Ajyal gathering, or the Abshir Ya Iraq movement.

Iraq's Council of Representatives is scheduled to hold a confidence vote on al-Zaidi's cabinet on Thursday evening.

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