BAGHDAD - Mustafa al-Kadhimi was sworn in as Iraq's Prime Minister early Thursday morning, after two other nominees were sidelined by political fighting, six months after Adil Abd al-Mahdi semi-resigned.
Kadhimi's chances were almost derailed by competing claims of parties to certain ministries, which leaves the new government without a sitting minister of oil, foreign affairs, justice, agriculture, migration, culture, or trade.
Fifteen ministers were approved and five were rejected, which is enough for Kadhimi to form a government.
"Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi did pledge at parliament that the oil minister will be from Basra," said MP Abed Risan Abed al-Saaidi. A second MP, Nada Shakir Jawdet, confirmed the promise of a Basrawi minister.
Kadhimi is now effectively acting Oil Minister, who will rely on the two deputy oil ministers - Hamid Younis Salih and Karim Hattab - after Senior Deputy Oil Minister Fayadh Nema was forced to retire due to a newly enforced age limit.
Abd al-Mahdi, who remained a quasi-caretaker premier, requested to be replaced as anti-government protests escalated. Kadhimi faces significant challenges besides appeasing protester demands:
After Washington approved only a 30 day waiver to exempt Iraq from sanctions for buying energy from Iran, it signaled last week that approving the Kadhimi government was a prerequisite for longer waiver periods and improved relations.
"The Secretary [of State] granted this brief extension of the waiver to allow time for the formation of a credible government," a State Department statement said. "Once that government is in place, the Secretary will reassess whether to renew the waiver and for how long, and looks forward to resuming our cooperation with the Government of Iraq to reduce Iraq's dependence on unreliable Iranian energy imports."
The following is the result of Parliament's session approving the Kadhimi government:
Approved:
Postponed:
Rejected:
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