Iraq’s second deputy speaker, Bashir al-Haddad, has said that setting a date for a vote of confidence session to Prime Minister-designate Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government hinges on sending the resumes of the nominated ministers to parliament.
“The parliament has not yet set a date for an extraordinary session to give confidence to the new cabinet,” Haddad said.
He pointed out that the legislature hasn’t been informed of the line-up.
“Once informed of the names of candidates and their resumes, it shall schedule an extraordinary session on granting the cabinet a vote of confidence.”
He said it would be difficult for lawmakers to arrive in Baghdad from different provinces due to the curfew and preventive measures taken to fight the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
In a statement on Thursday, Haddad said that instead of holding regular sessions, the parliament formed a crisis cell headed by first deputy speaker Hassan al-Kaabi.
Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi assigned Kaabi to head a special committee to review the government’s program, a copy of which was sent by the PM-designate.
Kadhimi’s office affirmed that he will send the candidates’ CVs to the parliament once the vote of confidence session is scheduled, supposedly early next week.
Meanwhile, Baghdad and Erbil agreed not to let their differences over salaries, the state budget and oil to impede the government formation process.
Kurdish lawmaker Hasan Ali said meetings held between the Kurdistan Regional Government’s delegation and officials in Baghdad have had good outcomes.
Although both sides did not announce a practical settlement to their differences, yet they agreed to form technical committees to discuss them.
This means discussions have been postponed until after the government formation.
“Kurds don’t want to hinder the efforts to form the next Iraqi cabinet,” former Kurdish MP Majid Shankali said.
