May 12th, Iraq held elections. All this time later, they still don't have a full Cabinet. BASNEWS reports:
After over three weeks of establishing a new government in Baghdad, the Iraqi Shi'ite factions have not yet agreed to have one sole nominee for the position of interior ministry, reports said.
According to Iraqi media reports, the Alliance of Reform and Building, which consists of Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sa'eroun, Haider Abadi’s Victory and 16 other political groups, cannot agree with the al-Bina Coalition, led by Hadi al-Amiri and Nouri al-Maliki as the latter insists on nominating Falih Fayaz, a former Hashd al-Shaabi official and Iraq’s national security advisor.
Earlier the year, Abadi dismissed Fayaz from the post of national advisor, arguing that the official cannot hold a political and military position simultaneously, while Sadr is determined to not give ministerial posts to people who have previously held such positions.
No Minister of Interior. No Minister of Defense.
Nor any efforts to meet the demands of the protesters in Basra. This weekend did see the assassination of protest leader Wissam al-Ghrawi -- but that doesn't appear to have lit any fired under prime minister Adil Abdul al-Mahdi.
But he does appear frustrated and BASNEWS notes he's making threats:
Iraqi PM Adil Abdul-Mahdi's threatenings to resign from his position, due to political confrontations among the parties over ministerial posts in his government, is "not just words", a Kurdish lawmaker said on Saturday.
Abdul-Mahdi has lately started to threaten to step down if the factions continue disputes in the process of concluding the new cabinet in Baghdad.
"Abdul-Mahdi's threat is, in part, [intended] to get the political factions to arrive at a deal to complete his cabinet," of which "eight ministries have not been voted on," Hoshiyar Abdullah, head of the Change Movement (Gorran) bloc in the Iraqi parliament, told Kurdistan 24.
All this time later, Iraq remains a mess. So much for the illegal war that was supposed to be about 'liberation' and 'freedom' and 'democracy.'