Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s ruling Shiite Coordination Framework has decided against reactivating deputy prime minister posts for now, following advice from religious figures inside and outside Iraq and amid financial and political pressures, a Framework source told Shafaq News on Saturday.

The source said the positions were “viewed partly as a way to accommodate political parties” and would add further costs to the state budget. Proposals to restore them without separate financial allocations had failed to gain support under current conditions.

According to the source, Coordination Framework leaders had previously voted in favor of reactivating the posts, with State of Law Coalition leader Nouri Al-Maliki opposing the move.

The source also linked the decision to Iraq’s changing security environment as the country approaches the planned Sept. 30 end of the current phase of the US-led Coalition’s military mission.

Separately, Tasmim Alliance lawmaker Jihad Saddam Al-Abadi told Shafaq News that Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi opposed reviving the country’s vice-presidential posts, arguing that the government should instead focus on completing its formation.

Read more: Al-Zaidi at 100 days: Iraq's toughest tests still ahead

Political blocs have debated both deputy prime minister and vice-presidential positions for months. Parliament Speaker Haibet Al-Halbousi had earlier called on President Nizar Amedi to consult political blocs on naming vice presidents.

Former Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi abolished the vice-presidential posts in 2015 as part of a reform drive, but the Federal Supreme Court later ruled the move unconstitutional.