BAGHDAD: More than nine months after March 7 elections resulted in a prolonged political deadlock in Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki Monday presented part of his new government to parliament. An MP close to Al-Maliki said the line-up includes new chiefs for Iraq's oil and finance ministries while foreign affairs is to keep its current head. Parliament Speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi said that Iraqi lawmakers will vote Tuesday on the list submitted by the premier. “Parliament received the program and the names. There will be a session after 2 P.M. (1100 GMT) Tuesday for voting on the new ministers,” Nujaifi told a news conference in Baghdad. “Our desire is to build a strong government capable of solving the crisis of the country, and we will be proud of that,” he said. Al-Maliki indicated to reporters that his task had not been easy. “The process of distributing the ministries was difficult, and forming a national unity government is a difficult job, because you have to find a place for each winner,” Al-Maliki said. “Tomorrow, the names will be announced, and some names need to be studied,” he said. According to Hassan Sineid, a deputy close to Al-Maliki, the proposed appointments include Hoshyar Zebari retaining his post as foreign minister, outgoing deputy prime minister Rafa Al-Essawi becoming head of the Finance Ministry and Deputy Oil Minister Abdulkarim Al-Luaybi taking charge of the Oil Ministry. Zebari was chosen from the Kurdish Alliance, Essawi from the Iraqiya list of ex-premier Iyad Allawi and Luaybi is an independent chosen by the National Alliance, an Al-Maliki-led pan-Shiite coalition. Sineid, speaking on Iraqiya television Monday evening, said that Ziad Tareq, chosen by the Iraqiya bloc, is the proposed new electricity minister; Hassan Al-Shammari, with the National Alliance, is to head the Justice Ministry; while government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh remains in the post. Iraqiya, he said, also presented Ahmed Nasser Delli to head the Ministry of Industry and Ezzedine Al-Dawla to lead agriculture. Hassan Al-Shammari, of the National Alliance is proposed to head the ministry of Justice. Al-Maliki's State of Law coalition won 89 seats in the elections, two less than Allawi's Iraqiya bloc. But neither won enough for a parliamentary majority, resulting in an impasse that has still to be finally resolved. According to a parliamentary source, Al-Maliki has only submitted names for 29 cabinet posts, or roughly 70 percent of the total. Earlier Monday, politicians had said that as many as half of the ministerial positions were still undecided as party chiefs squabbled over allocations. – Agence France
