ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Mohammed Tawfik Allawi, Iraq’s prime minister-designate, has called for an “extraordinary meeting” of parliament on Monday to approve his new cabinet. It comes as Iraq’s outgoing PM warned of a “crisis in the political process” if parties fail to approve the new government.
Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi earlier on Wednesday urged Iraq’s political parties to speed up the formation of a new government, warning he would be forced to take action if a cabinet is not agreed by March 2.
Progress has been slowed by objections from the parliament’s Kurdish and Sunni parties, who want to nominate their own candidates for office.
In a video message broadcast by Iraqi state media outlet INA on Wednesday evening, Prime Minister-designate Allawi said his cabinet will be “the first independent one... without the participation of the candidates of political parties.”
He called on the Iraqi parliament to “hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday to grant confidence to the government,” adding that lawmakers must “confirm to all Iraqis their willingness for reforms” by voting yes to his cabinet.
Directly addressing Iraq’s young protesters, who have occupied city squares across the country since October, Allawi promised to “turn a new page” and reestablish trust between the public and the government, lost “as a result of previous failures”.
On Tuesday night, delegations from the Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish parties met at the Baghdad home of Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi in a bid to resolve the impasse.
Abdul-Mahdi, who has remained in his post despite resigning several months ago amid mass protests, said the delay is unacceptable and reflects a “crisis of the political process.”
“I handed over my resignation on November 29, 2019, and it was accepted by the venerable parliament, and now we are in the middle of February 2020, meaning two and a half months on there has been no new government formed,” Abdul-Mahdi said in a Wednesday statement.
“Constitutionally, a new candidate should have been tasked [with forming the government] within 15 days of resignation. We missed the deadline by a long time, and there was no tasking until the beginning of February when Mr. Mohammed Tawfik Allawi was tasked,” Abdul-Mahdi said.
The delay “shows the crisis of the political process, and even the crisis among parties and constitutional institutions related to this matter,” he said.
“It would not be right and inappropriate for me to still hold responsibility [for government affairs] after March 2, and I will have no other option but to resort to solutions stipulated by the constitution or the bylaws of the Council of Ministers,” Abdul-Mahdi added.
Article 76-3 of the Iraqi constitution gives the president a free hand to nominate whom so he desires if Allawi fails to form his cabinet within 30 days.
Abdul-Mahdi's threat to leave the position after March 2 means President Barham Salih (a Kurd) could assume the role of caretaker prime minister until a new PM is selected.
Abdul-Mahdi resigned in the face of widespread protests in Iraq’s southern and central provinces. The protests have raged since October 1, 2019, with Iraqis demanding the removal of the post-2003 political elite, an overhaul political system, and for early elections.
According to the latest figures from Iraq’s Independent High Commission for Human Rights, 545 protesters and security forces have been killed and 24,000 people have been injured in clashes.
Allawi was given a free hand by Shiite parties to choose an independent cabinet on the condition that Kurds and Sunnis grant him the same freedom.
Iraq’s post-2003 order is a confessional system in which ethnicities and sects have a share in the government. The Kurds currently control three Iraqi ministries – two held by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and one by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
The Kurds and Sunnis have argued that since Shiite parties nominated Allawi for the position of PM, then Kurds and Sunnis should also have the right to nominate their own figures to become ministers.
“We Kurds insist on the necessity that the Kurdistan Region and Kurdistani parties supervise the selection of Kurdish ministers in Allawi’s cabinet, and the Sunnis have the same approach,” Salim Shushkayi, a Kurdish Islamic Group (Komal) MP who was part of the Kurdish delegation, told Rudaw on Tuesday.
The Kurdish delegation was led by Hoshyar Zebari, a high-ranking KDP official and former Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance.
Unlike the usual Kurdish fragmentation in Baghdad, whereby the KDP operates separately from the PUK and another group of 15 Kurdish MPs from other parties, this time the Kurdish delegation was united.
“We are not together with Sunnis against Shiites, nor are we together with Shiites against Sunnis. Rather, we are with the rights of our [Kurdish] people,” Fazil Mirani, the secretary of KDP politburo, told local media on Tuesday.
The Kurdish parties are scheduled to meet soon with Allawi and President Salih.
