(Baghdad) Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Mohamed Chia al-Soudani must submit his government to a vote of confidence by deputies on Thursday, the parliament presidency said on Wednesday about this last step before the new Iraqi leaders take office.
Posted at 1:15 p.m.
Iraq extricated itself on October 13 from a stalemate that lasted more than a year due to negotiations and power struggles between the main parties. The oil-rich country but beset by an economic and social crisis has finally gotten itself a new president and a new prime minister, as the political barons seek to speed up the political calendar.
According to a press release from the presidency of the National Assembly, the session on the vote of confidence should begin at 2 p.m. (11 a.m. GMT) on Thursday.
Mr. Soudani and his designated ministers must obtain an absolute majority, that is to say half of the votes plus one, to take office. Elected officials must also vote on the program of the new government.
Backed by a coalition that brings together the major Iraqi parties, Mohamed Chia al-Soudani and his government are, on paper, guaranteed to get the green light from the unicameral Parliament.
He is supported by the influential pro-Iran Shiite parties of the Coordination Framework, the first bloc in the Assembly with 138 deputies out of 329. But also the Sunni coalition led by the speaker of Parliament Mohamed al-Halboussi, as well as the two main parties Kurds, the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
Immediately after his election by Parliament on October 13, the new Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rachid tasked Mohamed Chia al-Soudani, 52, with forming a government.
Traditionally from the Shiite community, the majority in Iraq, the Prime Minister has 30 days according to the Constitution to form his team and submit it to the vote of the deputies.
The election of the president and the appointment of a prime minister came more than a year after the last legislative elections in October 2021 and a political paralysis punctuated by deadly violence.
The Coordinating Framework’s main opponent, the unpredictable and influential Shiite religious leader Moqtada Sadr, has announced that he will not take part in the new government.