Iraq parliament approves new govt.

22 December, 2010 09:34

The Iraqi parliament has given the vote of confidence to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s national unity cabinet, ending months of political impasse.

The vote came a day after Maliki presented his proposed national unity cabinet to the parliament.

Parliament in separate votes gave its approval to Maliki, three deputy prime ministers and 29 other cabinet Â ministers, as well as a 43-point government program aimed at liberalizing the economy and fighting terrorism.

According to the government spokesman Ali-al Dabbagh, the list presented to the parliament includes about 70 percent of the total cabinet.

Maliki stated that the Iraqi constitution must be preserved, and that the current election system should be reviewed.

Iraq had been left without a government since the inconclusive parliamentary elections in March which did not give any of the electoral slates the parliamentary majority they required to name a new cabinet.

Maliki’s State of Law coalition won 89 seats in the elections on the heels of former Iraqi Premier Iyad Allawi’s al-Iraqiya bloc, which secured 91 seats.

Iraqi politicians finally reached a power-sharing agreement in November, under which Maliki was named prime minister-designate and was given 30 days to name a government.