Iraq's council of ministers unanimously approves the new government program

Shafaq News/ Iraq's council of ministers has voted unanimously for the new government's program in an extraordinary session on Monday, Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-sudani's office said.

On October 27, Iraqi lawmakers approved a new government ending more than a year of deadlock. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani,52, who previously served as Iraq's human rights minister as well as minister of labour and social affairs, heads the new government.

Sudani vowed to reform the economy, fight corruption, improve deteriorating public services, combat poverty and unemployment among other things.

He also promised to amend the election law within three months and hold early parliamentary elections within a year.

"The endemic of corruption that has affected all aspects of life is more deadly than the corona pandemic and has been the cause of many economic problems, weakening the state's authority, increasing poverty, unemployment, and poor public services," Sudani said in his speech in parliament ahead of the vote.

Al-Sudani is the nominee of the largest parliamentary bloc known as the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Iran-aligned factions. He took over from former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who led a caretaker government, after anti-government protesters took to the streets in their thousands in 2019, demanding jobs and the departure of Iraq's ruling elite