Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday that Iraqi political blocs have started handing the names of their ministerial candidates to Adel Abdul-Mahdi, driving question marks about whether the newly appointed Prime Minister would be bound or free in his choices while forming the new government.
Except the Sairoon Alliance headed by Muqtada Al-Sadr, Iraqi political blocs are currently complicating the mission of Abdul-Mahdi by already starting to demand certain shares and portfolios in the next cabinet.
In this regard, former official government spokesman Dr. Ali al-Dabbagh told Asharq Al-Awsat, “Abdul-Mahdi was handed the prime ministry position burdened with a heavy legacy due to the war on ISIS, randomness that accompanied the last phase in Iraq, scarce resources and high expectations.”
According to Dabbagh, the Prime Minister would be distant from achieving a high level of success.
“The first task should aim to calm down the street and to lower the level of anger and distress among the Iraqis,” he said.
In Iraq, the presidency is held by a Kurd, while the prime minister is Shiite and the parliament speaker is Sunni.
The prime minister-designate has 30 days to submit his cabinet to parliament.
Head of the Sadrist Movement political committee, Nassar al- Rubaie, said on Friday that the political program for the next phase in Iraq should see a government bound in implementing its programs.
At the Kurdish level, the Kurdistan Region finds itself facing the echoes of the earthquake triggered by the race witnessed between the two main parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), over the presidential seat and which led to the winning of Barham Salih.
Salih, who was elected and sworn in as the new president on October 2, was the PUK's choice, while the KDP backed Fuad Hussein, the chief-of-staff to former Kurdistan regional president Massoud Barzani.
