Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi has requested to postpone an extraordinary Parliament session to vote on his cabinet until Sunday.
“In order to complete the cabinet formation, we want to postpone the extraordinary session until Sunday, March 1,” Allawi said in a letter on Friday to Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi.
Later in the evening, a Parliament statement said al-Halbousi approved the request and decided to postpone the voting session until 1 p.m. on Sunday.
On Thursday, Parliament failed to meet to vote on a new cabinet proposed by Allawi due to a lack of quorum and political disputes, and postponed the session until Saturday.
On February 19, Allawi called on Parliament to hold a session to vote on his cabinet’s lineup, in which he pledged to form a competent government beyond sectarian quotas and political parties.
On February, President Barham Salih appointed Allawi as the Prime Minister-designate to form a new cabinet, two months after Adel Abdel-Mahdi resigned.
Allawi’s appointment ended a two-month period in which Abdel-Mahdi was running the country on an interim basis amid the nationwide anti-government protests that claimed 536 lives since it began last October.
The protesters demanded comprehensive reform, fight against corruption, better public services and more job opportunities.