Mahmoud Barakat
13 April 2016•Update: 18 April 2016
By Haydar Hadi
BAGHDAD
Iraq’s Al-Muttahidoon political coalition on Wednesday said a new cabinet lineup proposed by Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi did not include any coalition members.
"Al-Muttahidoon has not nominated anyone for any positions in the new cabinet," the coalition, which is led by Iraqi Vice-President Osama al-Nujaifi, declared in a statement.
"The names that were sent to the PM were individual nominations made by deputies of the National Iraqi Alliance [Iraq’s largest Sunni coalition] and do not reflect Al-Muttahidoon’s official position," the statement read.
The coalition went on to reiterate its support for a raft of political reforms -- proposed last year by al-Abadi and later endorsed by parliament -- and urged other political actors to support them.
On Monday, a "National Reform Document" -- which contains 12 articles pertaining to political, social, economic and security reforms -- was signed by al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum, Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri, and a number of other influential politicians.
However, a number of other prominent Iraqi political personalities -- including Ayad Allawi, Nouri al-Maliki, Kurdish Regional Government President Masoud Barzani and representatives of Iraq’s powerful Sadrist movement -- were not present at the signing ceremony.
Nor were any Turkmen representatives invited to the event.
On Tuesday, scores of Iraqi lawmakers staged a sit-in to protest the government’s failure to form a "technocratic" government and to voice their rejection of al-Abadi’s proposed cabinet lineup.
