Iraqi PM to present new Cabinet line-up to parliament on Thursday

By Reuters - Mar 30,2016 - Last updated at Mar 31,2016

Displaced Iraqi boys sit on top of a vehicle waving their national flag in a queue for security checks, as some 250 families return to their hometowns in the area of Husaybah and Juwaybah in Iraq’s Anbar province on Tuesday (AFP photo)

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said he would present to parliament on Thursday his new Cabinet line-up aimed at fighting corruption, in keeping with a deadline set by the legislature earlier in the week.

Abadi announced more than six weeks ago that he wanted to replace current ministers with independent technocrats, but has faced resistance from rivals who fear it could weaken the political patronage networks that have sustained their wealth and influence for more than a decade.

Failing to deliver on long-promised anti-corruption measures could weaken Abadi's government just as Iraqi forces are gearing up to try and recapture the northern city of Mosul from Daesh militants.

“Parliament must make up its mind and proceed with reforms including the Cabinet reshuffle which it and citizens have been calling for,” Abadi said in a statement posted on his website on Wednesday.

It was unclear whether the parliament would approve the new Cabinet lineup.

On Tuesday Abadi had appealed to lawmakers for guidance on whether to appoint party politicians or independent technocrats to the Cabinet, but parliament speaker Salim Al Jabouri said on Wednesday it was for Abadi to decide.

Powerful Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada Al Sadr, who started a sit-in near parliament on Sunday and leads a bloc with three ministers in the current government, is pushing Abadi to appoint nominees unaffiliated with political parties.

A separate sit-in staged by his supporters has locked down central Baghdad for most of the past week.

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