Iraq
Iraqi Parliament holds session for first reading of draft laws on April 19, 2026. Photo: Parliament_iq/X
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi parliament is days away from voting on a new cabinet, the secretary-general of the legislature said, noting that the parliament speaker is expected to schedule the session for next “Monday or Tuesday,” while invitations are also set to be sent on Sunday to political leaders and diplomats to attend, as is customary.
“The council of representatives has completed all preparations related to holding the session to vote on the new ministerial cabinet,” Safwan al-Jarjari said in remarks to the state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA) late Saturday, noting that “it has been customary during previous government confidence sessions to invite political and diplomatic leaders, and matters will become clearer tomorrow [Sunday].”
Jarjari said invitations are set to be sent to diplomats and political leaders, including figures from the country’s ruling Shiite Coordination Framework and the National Political Council - a unified umbrella body comprising major Sunni Arab parties - adding, “We are awaiting the presidency of parliament to determine the date of the session, whether on Monday or Tuesday.”
Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi on Thursday submitted the ministerial program to Parliament Speaker Haibat al-Halbousi, INA reported that day, noting that “the program will be circulated among members of parliament for review and examination of its details, while the names of the cabinet lineup will be submitted at a later date.”
The report added that “both sides stressed the importance of cooperation and joint coordination to move forward with completing the process of granting confidence to the government and its ministerial program,” while Halbousi’s office, in a separate statement, affirmed “the council’s readiness to set a date” for the key session “once the names [of the next cabinet lineup] are submitted by the prime minister-designate.”
The Coordination Framework had named Zaidi as its “consensus candidate” for the post of the country’s next prime minister in late April, after weeks of consultations among its constituent parties and on the final day of the constitutional deadline for designating a nominee for the top post, traditionally held by a Shiite.
The prime minister-designate has since intensified meetings with various political parties, including in the Kurdistan Region, as part of consultations over the composition of Iraq’s next government.
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