Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s parliament is set to hold a session on Thursday to vote on completing Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s cabinet, with political blocs still negotiating appointments to several vacant ministerial posts, lawmaker Thaer al-Kaabi told Shafaq News.

Al-Kaabi, a member of the Al-Nahj Al-Watani Bloc, said nine ministries remain vacant, adding that the separation of the Ministry of Culture from the Ministry of Tourism, along with the addition of the ministries of artificial intelligence and state affairs, had raised the number of ministries covered by the negotiations to 12.

The current political agreement covers nominees for 10 of the 12 ministries, while candidates for the culture and state affairs portfolios remain undecided. The Ministry of State Affairs has been allocated to the Turkmen component, al-Kaabi revealed.

“Political blocs had agreed on candidates for deputy prime minister positions, but had yet to reach an agreement on nominees for the posts of vice president,” he said.

A political source told Shafaq News on Monday that leaders of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of predominantly Shiite political parties, reached an agreement with the prime minister and other political blocs to put the cabinet lineup to a parliamentary vote on Thursday. The deal also includes a vote on appointing four deputies to the prime minister.