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MPs Say Deal Set on Iraqi Govt.; Allawi Excluded
 Prime minister-designate Ibrahim Jaafari will present a list of ministers to parliament Monday, taking Iraq a step closer to a government three months after elections, lawmakers said. The list will not include anyone from caretaker prime minister Iyad Allawi's party after the Shi'ite alliance that won the January election rejected his demands for at least four ministries in the new government. "It is more than 75 percent likely that a list of cabinet names will be presented to the National Assembly tomorrow," Hussain al-Shahristani, a senior member of the Shi'ite alliance, told Reuters Sunday. "We will meet to sign off on the names tomorrow morning, and then the National Assembly will meet later to vote on the list. However, I cannot say how long it will take the assembly to approve the cabinet." Under Iraq's interim constitution, the 275-seat assembly must approve the prime minister and his cabinet by a simple majority. Judging by the recent performance of the parliament, that could take some time. Members of Allawi's party had been expected to take as many as four ministries up until late Saturday, when the Shi'ite alliance decided it could not accommodate his demands and moved to form a government with the Kurds and Sunnis. "Allawi will take no part, his party will have no ministries," an official involved in the negotiations said earlier, saying the decision had come after 10 hours of talks. Posted by: Fred 2005-04-25 |
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