Iraq: Al-Maliki balks at demands to revise Cabinet list

By Haydar Karaalp

BAGHDAD (AA) - Iraq’s former prime minister on Saturday refused to revise his prospective Cabinet list, despite demands from Shia power broker Muqtada al-Sadr, throwing another roadblock in front of efforts to form a government eight months after elections.

The State of Law coalition refuses calls "to replace Falih Fayyad and other candidates for the new Cabinet,” Nouri al-Maliki told a press conference in Baghdad.

He said replacing Fayyad would risk stability in Iraq as it creates a perception that al-Sadr's Sairon Coalition is trying to put pressure on parliament and the government.

Fayyad, former Premier Haidar al-Abadi’s security adviser, was nominated indirectly by the Hashd al-Shabi-backed Al-Binaa bloc for interior minister, but faces strong objection from Sadr’s Sairoon Coalition, which boycotted Thursday’s vote on the Cabinet in parliament.

Last month, Abdul-Mahdi, an independent politician, was given the go-ahead by parliament to draw up a government.

Since then, however, only 14 of the prime minister’s 22 proposed Cabinet ministers have been confirmed by parliament, with the eight remaining portfolios -- including the key defense and interior posts -- still sitting vacant.

Observers close to the government-formation process attribute the delay to ongoing differences between leading Sunni and Shia political groups.