Shafaq News- Baghdad

Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi will present 14 cabinet nominees to the Iraqi Council of Representatives next week for a confidence vote, with the remainder of his cabinet to follow after the Hajj season concludes, according to a Badr bloc MP.

Shaker Mahmoud al-Tamimi, speaking to Shafaq News on Wednesday, attributed the phased submission to a practical constraint: a significant number of lawmakers are expected to travel for the Hajj pilgrimage, making a full cabinet vote before the season ends impractical.

The 14 ministers to be presented first will be drawn from across the political spectrum. "They will not be exclusively from the Coordination Framework," al-Tamimi said, "but also from Sunni and Kurdish blocs."

On Monday, Mohammed al-Shammari, a member of the Parliamentary Khadamat bloc, itself a Coordination Framework constituent, told Shafaq News that al-Zaidi had informed Framework leaders of his intention to submit the full cabinet on May 9, with parliament set to convene for a confidence vote during the coming week.

Framework leaders are scheduled to meet with al-Zaidi today. The session is expected to resolve the allocation of sovereign and service ministries and agree on a distribution mechanism —two points that have remained unresolved in negotiations.

The incoming government is set to comprise 22 ministerial portfolios: 12 allocated to Coordination Framework factions, six to Sunni blocs, and four to Kurdish parties, according to Shafaq News sources.

Read more: Iraq registers first challenge to al-Zaidi's prime ministerial mandate