In the previous government under Adil Abdul Mahdi, the Kurdish bloc held three ministries, including justice, finance, and construction and housing. It is broadly expected that it will end up with that same number in Kadhimi’s cabinet.
On Wednesday, May 6, the parliament approved Nazlin Mohammed to lead the renamed Ministry of Reconstruction, Housing, and Municipalities.
So far, she is the only Kurd and only woman in the cabinet.
Lawmakers rejected former governor of Kirkuk Mustafa Abdulrahman as justice minister. Earlier, current Kurdistan Regional Government Minister of State Khalid Shawani had been slated for that role, but Abdulrahman was tapped instead.
Fuad Hussein had also been expected to move from finance to foreign affairs, but lawmakers opted not to take a vote on the latter portfolio, leaving it empty for the time being.
The Council of Representatives also kept the important post of oil minister unfilled. MPs from Basra objected to being left out of the cabinet, despite their region’s important role in oil production and export, and held up voting for more than an hour as negotiations took place behind the scene.
When voting eventually got underway, Change Movement (Gorran) lawmaker Kawa Mohammed said that the party’s MPs would vote against Kadhimi’s nominees.
“We will not vote for the new cabinet because the rights of the Kurds concerning finance and oil have not been set in Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s cabinet,” Mohammed told NRT.
“We cannot trust this cabinet just because of their words and statements when the cabinet does not have any clear agenda and stance towards the problems of the Kurds,” Mohammed added.
Opposition from the larger Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) caucuses scuttled a previous attempt by Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi to form a government earlier this year. They had wanted final say over Kurdish nominees to cabinet posts.
However, the presence of both parties in the chamber on Wednesday helped to maintain quorum and allowed voting to go ahead on Wednesday night.
The parties are expected to continue to discuss the empty ministerial portfolios in the coming days.
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