Iraq's legislative body postpones the confidence vote on al-Sudani's cabinet

Shafaq News/ Iraq's parliament presidium postponed the confidence vote on Prime Minister-designate Mohammad Shiyaa al-Sudani's cabinet for a few hours, an official press release said on Thursday.

The press release said that the session will take place at 0600 pm instead of 0200 pm.

The rapporteur of the Iraqi parliament, Gharib Askar, attributed this delay to "the ongoing talks between PM-designate al-Sudani and the political parties."

"Some names might be added or dropped from the roster," Lawmaker Askar explained, "al-Sudani considering different combinations."

"The only purpose of this postponement is to give more space to the PM-designate in the talks with the partners in the cabinet," he continued.

Iraq's parliament will convene today a vote on a new government more than a year after the country held legislative elections.

The date was set following a request made by the prime minister-designate al-Sudani to the legislative body on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, parliament elected the country's new president, Abdullatif Rashid, who immediately handed the task of forming the next government to long-time politician al-Sudani.

The move ended more than a year of political stalemate after elections on October 10, 2021, the fifth parliamentary vote for a full-term government since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The political deadlock led to clashes between Shiite militias inside the Green Zone, an ultra-secure area that houses the parliament, key government offices, residences of senior politicians, and foreign embassies.

In his request on Tuesday, al-Sudani presented his government agenda to parliament, saying he will send the list of his proposed Cabinet members later.

But the legislative body turned down the request, saying a special committee has to study the government agenda first and prepare a report before the vote and that the only party to determine when the session will be held is the parliament.

Al-Sudani later submitted another request without proposing a date for the session. Afterwards, the parliament speaker accepted the request and decided to hold the session on Thursday to set up the committee to study the agenda.

Horse trading between political factions competing for top government jobs is still under way. Candidates are still being changed.