On May 07, 2020, Mustafa al-Kadhimi (53), former head of Iraq’s intelligence agency, was sworn in as the country’s 6th Prime Minister (PM). This has ended the leadership crisis that had been going on in the country for 6 months.
Key Points:
i.Mustafa has become Iraq’s 1st proper PM after Adel Abdul Mahdi resigned in November 2019 due to massive anti-governmental protests.
ii.Voting session: The majority of 255 parliamentarians attended the parliament session and approved the proposal for the name of Mustafa. The parliament also cleared Kadhimi’s 15 cabinet ministers & rejection of 5 ministers who had been selected for the portfolio of trade, culture, agriculture, migration and justice.
iii.Difficulties are in front of Kadhimi: He has held the office at a time when Iraq is facing unprecedented crisis amid a decline in oil revenue & facing a severe economic crisis due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic.
Kadhemi is considered to have good penetration among pro-Iran leaders in the Iraqi parliament with 329 members.
iv.President’s approval: Iraq President Barham Salih has recently approved Mustafa’s post of Prime Minister, after two failures to form of a new government in Iraq. This is the third appointment to the post of PM in the last ten weeks.
About Iraq:
Capital– Baghdad
Currency– Iraqi dinar
