Shafaq News – Baghdad
Iraq’s government will enter a caretaker phase the day after the current parliamentary term expires, narrowing Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s powers until a new cabinet is formed, according to constitutional expert Habeeb al-Quraishi.
Al-Quraishi told Shafaq News that the shift is automatic under Federal Supreme Court rulings—most notably decision 235/2022—which define a caretaker cabinet as one restricted to urgent, non-deferrable actions needed to keep state institutions functioning.
He noted that these limits bar the government from proposing legislation, contracting loans, making or removing senior appointments, or restructuring ministries—powers reserved for a fully mandated administration. The Cabinet’s internal bylaw (Article 42 of Regulation No. 2 of 2019) reinforces that a government in this phase remains in place only to manage daily operations until a successor is sworn in.
Al-Quraishi added that Iraq’s top court has clarified the scope of this period through additional rulings—235/2023 and 121/2021—which outline what a caretaker government may and may not do, placing the outgoing cabinet in what political literature commonly describes as a “lame-duck” stage.
The country concluded its sixth parliamentary elections since 2003 on Tuesday, with the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) reporting voter turnout above 56%. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s al-Ima'ar Wal Tanmiya (Reconstruction and Development) bloc led in eight of Iraq’s 18 provinces, securing 46 seats. The Taqaddum Party, headed by former parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, ranked second with 33 seats, followed by the State of Law Coalition (E’tilaf Dawlat al-Qanoun) led by former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, with 30 seats.