Iraqi lawmakers approve government of Prime Minister-designate Kadhimi

Iraqi lawmakers approved a new government on Wednesday after six months without one as parties squabbled until the last minute over cabinet seats in backroom deals.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Iraq's intelligence chief and a former journalist, will head the new government. He will begin his term without a full cabinet, however, after several ministerial candidates were rejected.

The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday welcomed Iraq's formation of a government and extended a waiver on Iran sanctions to ease pressure on the new leader.

In a phone call with the new prime minister, Pompeo said the U.S. would not enforce sanctions on Iraq buying electricity from Iran for 120 days "as a display of our desire to help provide the right conditions for success," the State Department said.

The speaker of Iraq's parliament Mohammed al-Halbousi meets with Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Mustafa al-Kadhimi before the vote on the new government at the parliament headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, May 6, 2020. /Reuters

Former Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who has been leading a caretaker government, resigned last year as anti-government protesters took to the streets in their thousands, demanding jobs and the departure of Iraq's ruling elite.

They accuse the political class that took over after the 2003 U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein of corruption that has driven the country into dysfunction and economic ruin.

The battle over government portfolios since Abdul Mahdi's resignation in November prevented two previous nominees for prime minister from forming a cabinet.

Kadhimi's candidates for cabinet posts including interior, defense, finance and electricity passed with votes from a majority of lawmakers present.

Voting on the oil and foreign ministries was delayed as the parties failed to agree on candidates. They rejected the incoming premier's picks for justice, agriculture and trade.

"The security, stability and blossoming of Iraq is our path," Kadhimi wrote on his Twitter account after parliament voted for his cabinet.

Screenshot of a tweet by Iraq's Prime Minister-designate Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

He said he would make tackling the coronavirus pandemic, of which Iraq has suffered more than 2,000 cases and more than 100 deaths, a priority and hold to account those who had killed protesters in previous months of anti-government unrest.

Iraqi officials say Kadhimi is acceptable to both the United States and Iran, whose battle for influence over Iraq has boiled into open confrontation in the past year.

(With input from agencies)