Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammed Al Halbousi met on Thursday with a number of deputies from the Sairoon Alliance at the headquarters of the Sadrist movement’s political committee to resolve the problem of public posts that have been managed by staff in caretaker capacity, in addition to the completion of Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi's cabinet.
After the talks, Halbousi asserted during a press conference that the country would settle the issue of state posts by June.
The Speaker said Parliament has enough time to hire permanent employees and to offer other competent interim employees permanent positions.
Asked whether disputes between Iraq’s political blocs would be an obstacle to resolving the problem, similar to the deadlock in the cabinet, Halbousi said: “Voting on employee classifications is not similar to voting on the cabinet.”
Several key cabinet posts are unfilled as a result of differences between Iraq’s political parties.
Nassar al-Rabi'i, head of the Sadrist movement political committee, said that “state institutions have weakened” as a result of the vacant positions, which for years have been filled by acting employees.
A few weeks after his election in September, Halbousi promised to resolve the issue within six months.
Ihsan al-Shammari, head of the Center for Political Thought, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday that the two main blocs in Parliament, Islah and Bina’, are determined to find a permanent solution to temporary positions in Iraqi state institutions.
