Shafaq News- Baghdad
Feyli Kurds will resort to the mediaand public opinion if they are not fairly represented in Iraq’s nextgovernment, an Iraqi lawmaker warned on Thursday, as negotiations continue overcabinet positions.
Speaking with Shafaq News, HaiderAbu Tara, an MP representing the Feyli Kurds —a Shiite Kurdish communityconcentrated in Baghdad and eastern Iraq— said that successive governmentssince 2003 had failed to fairly represent minority groups in the distributionof ministries, despite repeated promises of political partnership.
He revealed that he recently metPrime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi, who assured him that the new cabinetwould include all political and social components “without marginalization.”
The Feyli Kurdish community isseeking a ministerial portfolio in areas such as Migration and Displacement,Culture, or Education, in addition to executive posts linked to the files ofmartyrs and prisoners, Abu Tara added, calling for a government built on“partnership, balance, and genuine consensus.”
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Iraq’s Council of Representativesannounced that al-Zaidi is expected to submit his cabinet lineup and governingprogram before the end of this week, ahead of a confidence session scheduledfor next week.
Negotiations over ministries arecontinuing under a “points” system tied to parliamentary representation, inwhich blocs require at least 10 seats to secure service ministries and morethan 15 seats for sovereign portfolios. Cabinet posts in Iraq are traditionallydistributed through political agreements under the muhasasa system, a post-2003power-sharing arrangement among the country’s major political and ethnicgroups.
Nine quota seats are currentlyreserved for minority communities in Iraq’s 329-member parliament. Feyli Kurds,whose population is estimated at between 1.5 and 2 million people, hold onlyone parliamentary quota seat allocated to a candidate from Wasit province underIraqi law. Community representatives describe the arrangement as “institutionaldiscrimination,” noting that other minorities, including Christians andYazidis, hold five or more parliamentary seats.
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