Iraq Parliament Grants Confidence to 14 Members of Adel Abdul-Mahdi's Cabinet

Reports indicate that Adel Abdul-Mahdi was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Iraq on Wednesday, November 2. However, only 14 ministers from his 22-member cabinet received a vote of confidence. According to Reuters, Iraqi parliament representatives could not reach an agreement on the proposed ministers for eight ministries, including the ministries of defense and interior. A decision regarding the remaining eight ministers is expected by November 6. Thamer al-Ghadhban, the Minister of Oil, and Fuad Hussein, the Minister of Finance, were among the 14 ministers who received a vote of confidence from the Iraqi parliament. Thamer al-Ghadhban replaces Jabbar al-Luaibi and had served as Iraq's interim oil minister in 2004 and 2005 following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Adel Abdul-Mahdi was initially supposed to introduce all 22 cabinet members to the parliament, but several members of the Sa'ron, Nasr, al-Wataniya, and Sunni coalition factions left the parliamentary session before the vote on the remaining eight ministries due to disagreements. An Iraqi parliament member from the Nasr coalition told Reuters, 'We left the parliamentary session because we disagreed with the remaining candidates.' Mohammed al-Halbousi, the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, stated that the parliament will vote on the remaining ministers on November 6. Reuters reports that several Iraqi parliament representatives accused some of the proposed candidates for the cabinet of corruption and collaboration with Saddam Hussein's regime. In the May parliamentary elections, the Sa'ron coalition, close to Muqtada al-Sadr, and several other parties, including the Iraqi Communist Party, won 54 seats; the Fatah coalition, led by Hadi al-Amiri and linked to Shiite militias, secured 47 seats; the Nasr coalition, led by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, obtained 42 seats; and the State of Law coalition, led by Nouri al-Maliki, gained 25 seats.