PM Maliki able to form new cabinet within defined period, Kurdish leader

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Chairman of Iraq’s Kurdistan Alliance, Fuad Maasoum, has expressed confidence that Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would be able to form the new government, within the defined constitutional period, as result of the current discussions among the leaders of the parliamentary blocs to distribute the cabinet posts and names of the proposed ministers. “There are points of agreement that the Kurdistan Alliance will retain the posts of deputy prime minister, whilst a clear agreement exists among the majority of the political blocs to keep the foreign minister’s post by Hoshiar Zibary (Kurd), due to the great success he had achieve during his assignment for this important ministry,” Dr. Maasoum told IraqiNews.com news agency. Maasoum expected that the parliamentary blocs would complete the distribution of the Parliament members on its different specialized committees, pointing out that the “preliminary decision of those committees is represented by the election of their chairmen early next week, to assume their observatory role, along with studying the draft-laws presented to the Parliament.” SKH/SR 2