07 January 2019•Update: 07 January 2019
By Ali Mohamed
ERBIL, Iraq
Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and former head of northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), met in Erbil on Monday with Faleh al-Fayad, the Iraqi prime minister’s national security advisor.
According to a KDP statement, Barzani and al-Fayad -- the latter of whom has been nominated for the post of Iraqi interior minister -- discussed the country’s political situation and ongoing efforts to draw up a new government.
The two men also reportedly discussed outstanding differences between Baghdad and the Erbil-based KRG.
Nineteen out of 22 cabinet nominees put forward by Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi have so far been confirmed by Iraq’s parliament.
Two cabinet portfolios, however, still remain in limbo amid ongoing differences between the country’s leading political forces.
A scheduled parliamentary vote on al-Fayad, the PM’s choice for interior minister, was recently postponed to a later date.
No candidate, meanwhile, has yet been proposed for the post of justice minister.
Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon Bloc, which dominated Iraq’s May 12 parliamentary poll, opposes al-Fayed’s nomination, saying the Interior Ministry should go to a “politically independent” figure.
The Shia Al-Fatah coalition, however, which is known to be close to Iran, supports al-Fayed’s nomination.
Iraqi politics are deeply affected by the longstanding regional standoff between the U.S. and Iran, both of which maintain considerable influence in the country.
