Iraq Parliament to vote on Vice-President’s candidates on Sunday

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Parliament is scheduled to vote in its session on Sunday on the three candidates for the Vice-President’s posts, a source in the Parliament’s media office said. “The Parliament has added a paragraph on its session today (Sunday) to vote on the candidates for the Vice-President’s 3 posts, Adel Abul-Mahdi, Tareq al-Hashimy and Khudhier al-Khuza’e, as well as the remaining candidates for the cabinet posts, to be presented by the Prime Minister (Nouri al-Maliki),” the source said. Iraqi President, Jalal Talabani’s Media office has reported on February 7, 2011, that the President had presented a proposal to the Parliament to add a 4th Vice-President’s post on the said 3 posts, and to nominate an Iraqi Turkoman personality to hold the post. The Parliament’s media source also said that the Parliament’s session “shall also discuss the project for the new State Budget, with the presence of the Finance Minister.” The Parliament had been waiting since weeks for the nomination of the Vice-Presidents and the vacant cabinet’s service and security posts, in order to enable the government carry out its duties and allow the Parliament to carry out its observation and follow-up role towards those ministries. Noteworthy is that the Iraqi Parliament had granted trust on 21/12/2010 to the new cabinet, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, comprising 42 ministries, including 12 state ministries, whilst Maliki kept the administration of the Ministries of Interior, Defense and National Security, under him on “acting” basis, whilst he assigned a number of cabinet posts to other personalities, also on “acting” basis, pending the appointment of their original ministers. SKH(PT)/SR 484