Rejoining the government “advanced national step” – IAF
Baghdad, 19 July 2008 (Voices of Iraq)
The Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) in a press conference on Saturday described its return to the government as an advanced national step, stressing that the Planning Ministry still belongs to the IAF.
“The Planning Ministry was discussed, and a consensus has been reached within the IAF and with Premier Nouri al-Maliki, and we leave this issue to future and events,” lawmaker Saleem Abdullah, the IAF’s spokesperson, said in a press conference for the front after Parliament’s voting session on the IAF’s ministerial nominees.
“The important and constant issue is that the Planning Ministry belongs to the IAF, and is part of its program to the public,” he added.
The IAF(Sunni bloc) which holds 40 out of 275 parliamentary seats, withdrew its five ministers and deputy premier from al-Maliki’s cabinet in August 2007, demanding more participation in security and political decision making.
At that time, the planning minister Ali Baban had refused the IAF’s withdrawal decision, preferring to keep his position and announcing his withdrawal from the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP, an IAF entity).
The IAF insisted on replacing Baban, and this issue delayed restoring the IAF in the cabinet until recently.
Earlier today, the Iraqi Parliament approved, with 165 lawmakers present, the appointment of a deputy premier and nine ministers to fill vacant posts in the new ministerial line-up.
“Meetings between Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi (IAF) and Premier Nouri al-Maliki were not limited to naming ministers and specifying ministries, but there was an agreement of mutual commitments between the IAF and cabinet,” he noted.
“The IAF is committed to supporting the national unity government, as long as it moves in the right direction, and the government in return is committed to giving the IAF a real active participation,” he explained.
“Our presence in the cabinet will not prevent us from criticizing it, even criticizing the IAF’s ministers themselves if they deviate from the path drawn to them to stabilize the national unity government,” he explained.
From his side, lawmaker Alaa Makee of the IAF told the press, “The IAF had withdrew from the government due to lack of consensus, but now political entities are in consensus, everyone has his political, economic, and security roles, and the executive council is currently active.”
“The intention now is to expand to all the Iraqi political entities; hence why the IAF perceived it to be suitable to rejoin the cabinet,” he said.
“It would be an active rejoin,” he added.
Concerning the parliament’s voting session on the ministerial nominees; lawmaker Taha al-Lehaibi (IAF) told the press during the same press conference “The appointed ministers got the majority of legislatures’ votes who were present, including those who had objections on the nominees.”
“Lawmaker Khalaf al-Elayian had a point of view, but when he found that most of the IAF’s nominees are independent, the picture became clear to him, and he voted for the nominees,” he said.
“The issue of nomination was subjected to studying and discussion within the IAF,” he added.
“A committee that was formed by the IAF studied the nominations, which were arranged and submitted to the IAF’s leaders, who added their signatures, before admitting the final list of nominees to the premier,” he explained.
“Parliament voted on this list today,” he noted.
“The nominees stressed that they put Iraq’s priorities at the highest consideration, and their affiliations would be melted for the sake of Iraqi people’s interests,” he asserted.