Prime Minister-designate Mustafa al-Kazimi, is racing against time and difficulties, to complete the ministerial cabinet to be presented to the House of Representatives, during the constitutional period of one month, which cannot be extended.
Al-Kazimi, who is the director of Iraqi intelligence, said in a tweet to him on Twitter, “Consultations with political forces continue in a friendly atmosphere,” indicating that there are attempts to overcome obstacles on the basis of positive dialogue, Pointing out that he wants an efficient and honest government team, facing crises, and moving the country towards success and achieving people’s demands.
The cab is complete
Member of the Al-Fateh Alliance, from Basra Governorate, Amer Al-Fayez announced that Al-Kazemi had completed the ministerial cabinet, indicating that he would inform the heads of political blocs on it before sending it to the House of Representatives.
Al-Fayez said in a press statement that “the Prime Minister-designate who has a team is currently writing the government program and will be sent to the House of Representatives after finishing writing it.”
Meanwhile, a source close to the Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kazemi revealed how the ministerial portfolios were distributed among the components (Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds).
The source said, “The ministerial cabinet in Al-Kazemi’s government will consist of 22 ministries.” He explained that “the ministries will be distributed among the components as follows: 11 ministries for the Shiite component, 6 for the Sunni component, 4 for the Kurdish component, and one ministry for minorities (Christians or Turkmen).”
The source added, “Some of the names of candidates for these ministries were provided by political parties, while others are nominated by Al-Kazemi.”
Party lists
Member of the State of Law Bloc, Ali Jabbar Al-Ghanmi, revealed that some political blocs handed over Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kazemi a list of their candidates for ministerial portfolios in the next government.
This was confirmed by the representative of the State of Law Bloc, Alia Nassif, who granted Mustafa Al-Kazemi political blocs the freedom to submit two candidates to each ministry.
Nassif said that “Al-Kazemi set specific specifications in the mechanism of submitting candidates to his cabinet by the political blocs, the most important of which is integrity and competence, and he has no known backgrounds in addition to other specifications”, And, she added, “Al-Kazemi will have the freedom to choose who deems appropriate after each bloc submits two or three candidates to each ministry.”
Sunni bloc demands
While the representative of Diyala province, Abdel Khaleq Al-Azzawi, confirmed, There are 4 demands that were submitted to the Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kazemi for inclusion in his government program, noting that they submitted the names of a candidate for the cabinet.
Al-Azzawi said that “there are candidates from the liberated governorates who will be presented to the Prime Minister-designate, and we hope that they will be accepted by the parliament.”
He added, “The deputies of the liberated provinces authorized the selection of the candidates for the cabinet, whether from the blocs or from outside, just as freedom was granted to its predecessors Al-Zrafi and Allawi.”
He pointed out, “Several demands were submitted by the representatives of the liberated governorates to Al-Kazimi for inclusion in his government program, Such as returning the displaced people to their homes, removing the prisoners who are imprisoned on the basis of the secret laboratory, the false charges, the reconstruction of the liberated areas and the implementation of the requests of the demonstrators who have been in the squad for 6 months”.
The south and the Kurds
To the south of the capital, Baghdad, Nasiriyah city, to which Al-Kazimi’s origins belong.
Representative Walid Sahlani, of Dhi Qar Governorate, called on Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kazemi to give the southern governorates suffering from deprivation their share in his next cabinet.
Al-Sahlani said that “the next government should take into account the southern governorates, which have been suffering deprivation for the last period, by participating in the ministerial cabinet assigned to Al-Kazemi’s leadership.”
He pointed out that “there are great challenges on various levels faced by the Al-Kazemi government, including the Corona crisis and the resulting economic crisis as a result of the drop in oil prices.”
Al-Sahlani pointed out that “the movement continues by the various political blocs in order to find a state of harmony with the various parties, especially the political forces in the Iraqi arena that supported Al-Kazemi in order to provide the ministerial cabinet as soon as possible.”
For his part, the deputy for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) bloc, Bashar Al-Kiki, announced that his party would accelerate the formation of the government, And they seek to keep the financial and economic gains of the Iraqi Kurds at the top of the goals of their participation in Iraqi governments.
The demands of the Kurdish blocs to continue their share in the federal state budget come amid discussion by many political forces, especially Shiite parties, because of the economic conditions of Iraq and the decline of its resources due to the turmoil in the oil market.
Iraqi authorities are constantly demanding to reduce the share of the Kurdistan region from the budget of the Iraqi state, which amounts to 17 percent, on the basis that this percentage does not match the real number of the population of the region compared to the total number of the population of Iraq, and given that the region sells oil produced in fields located within its borders He keeps a portion of his returns to himself.
Difficulties and pressures
The deputy of the Saeroun Bloc, Badr Al-Ziyadi, revealed the presence of pressure exerted by political blocs on Al-Kazemi to pass candidates in his cabinet, Noting that his bloc had previously taken an oath not to interfere in the formation of the government and thus granted Al-Kazimi the right to choose his cabinet, indicating that Al-Kazemi, In the event that he was subjected to these pressures and accepted the candidates of some of the blocs, everyone will be forced upon him by candidates, and therefore his government will go towards quotas, and it will be doomed to failure as described.
While the representative of the “Al-Hikma” bloc Hassan Khalati said, “The conditions available to Al-Kazemi are better than those that accompanied the path of assigning his predecessors, and there is an ideal basis for passing the government, And it is likely that one of the days of this week or the beginning of next week will witness a session to vote on the ministerial formation of Al-Kazemi.
In turn, former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Bahaa Al-Araji, stated in a tweet on his account on Twitter: “If Al-Kazemi is a candidate from the largest number as they claim, then the components of this bloc must stand with him in order to make his mission a success, because that is one of its responsibilities.”
Al-Kazemi is considered the third in charge of forming the government after the deputy Adnan Al-Zorfi and the former communications minister, Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi, who withdrew at the beginning of last March, and who announced their withdrawal from the post.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kazemi pledged to preserve the sovereignty and independence of Iraq’s political decision, stressing that the arms be confined to the state and fighting corruption.
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