Maliki’s new government, largest government in Iraq’s history, Expert:

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The new Iraqi government, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, that won the trust of the Parliament on Tuesday “is the biggest government, as regards to its number, in the history of the contemporary Iraqi cabinets,” the Iraqi Legal Expert, Tareq Harb said. “For the first time in the history of Iraq, a government is formed with four deputy prime ministers, that were included in Maliki’s 2nd cabinet, along with 42 cabinet ministers,” Harb said. The list of cabinet ministers, presented by Maliki to the Parliament on Tuesday, had comprised 41 candidates, some of who had been assigned on acting basis, whilst included 12 state ministers, compared with Maliki’s previous cabinet that comprised 37 seats. Noteworthy is Maliki’s new cabinet comprises 42 cabinet posts, but he had presented 41 of them to the Parliament’s session on Tuesday, according to source close to the Iraqi Parliament, who did not give the reason for Maliki’s non-presentation of the 42nd candidate. Harb said that “the first government in the history of Iraq in the beginning of the Royalist Regime, led by Prime Minister Abdul-Rahman al-Naqib, in 1920, that comprised 7 cabinet seats only and 12 (formal) state cabinets,” adding that “for the first time in the history of Iraq, a government is formed with 4 deputy prime ministers, in Maliki’s 2nd government, followed by Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s government, formed in April, 2005, with three deputy prime ministers.” “Maliki’s new government had comprised all political components, with the exception of the Kurdish “Change” Bloc that withdrew from the government at the last moments that preceded the formation of the government, whilst it was the first cabinet that included 6 state ministries,” he added. He pointed out that “Maliki’s 2nd cabinet was the 12th Shiite-led cabinet in Iraq‘s history, 5 of them during the Royalist Regime – 1920 to 1958, the first led by Prime Minister, Hussein al-Sadr, the second by Saleh Jabur, the third by Abdul-Wahab Marjan, the fourth by Fadhil al-Jamaly, followed by three cabinets in the Republican Regime – 1958 to 2003: the first led by Naji Taleb in 1966, the second by Saadoun Hammadi in 1991, the third by Mohammed al-Zubeidy in 1993.” “But after April 4, 1993, the first Shiite-led cabinet had been led by Iyad Allawi in 2004, then by Ibrahim Jaafari in 2005, followed by Nouri al-Maliki’s first cabinet in 2006 and 2nd cabinet in 2010,” Tareq Harb said. Harb pointed out that “Maliki’s 2nd cabinet had been the cabinet that comprised the smallest number of women, among the cabinets formed after 9/4/2003, which included one woman only, who occupied the post of state minister.” On his part, Member of the State of Law Coalition, led by Nouri al-Maliki, Adnan al-Sarraj told IraqiNews.com news agency, said: “The number of ministers in Maliki’s cabinet is very large, comparied to the United States that has 15 ministers only and China – 25 ministers only!” The Iraqi Parliament had granted trust to the government program presented by Prime Minister Maliki, as well as the members of his new cabinet on Tuesday, following a serious dialogue that continued for about 9 months, that followed Iraq‘s March 7th nationwide parliamentary elections. Maliki had presented the names of his new cabinet ministers to the Parliament on Tuesday evening, comprising 41 ministers, whilst he kept the posts of Interior, Defense and National Security ministers for himself, on acting basis, assigning several posts on acting basis till the naming of the original ministers. SKH 779