Tensions and disagreements… Al Jazeera Net reveals the behind-the-scenes reasons for the delay in filling the vacant ministerial positions in Iraq.

Tensions and disagreements… Al Jazeera Net reveals the behind-the-scenes reasons for the delay in filling the vacant ministerial positions in Iraq.

18/9/2026

Baghdad – On May 14, 2026, the Iraqi parliament granted confidence to the government of Ali al-Zaidi , but the cabinet left the voting hall incomplete, as 9 ministerial portfolios remained vacant.

Since then, promises to resolve the issue have continued without political negotiations succeeding in handing over the keys. The matter is no longer limited to the names of candidates, but has extended to the distribution of entitlements and the positions of deputy prime ministers, as well as the security ministries and the file of restricting weapons.

A source from the Wisdom Movement, led by Ammar al-Hakim , one of the components of the coordination framework , who preferred to remain anonymous, revealed to Al Jazeera Net that an agreement had been reached between the political forces to proceed with passing the candidates for the nine remaining ministries in Prime Minister Ali al-Zubaidi’s government as soon as possible, stressing that their names no longer represent an obstacle to completing the government formation.

push and pull
Despite the agreement to proceed with filling the remaining ministerial posts, the security portfolios, particularly the Ministry of the Interior, remain a point of contention among political forces. The State of Law Coalition , led by Nouri al-Maliki, continues to insist on nominating Qasim Atta for the position, who, according to the same source, has garnered approximately 250 signatures from members of parliament in support of his candidacy.

In 2014, Lieutenant General Qasim Atta served as the military spokesman for former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, while simultaneously managing operations for the Iraqi intelligence service.

As for the Ministry of Defense, the previous understandings regarding it between the Sunni forces, the Coordination Framework, and the State Administration Coalition, which includes Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish forces, are still in place. The same source indicates that the forces of the Framework affirm their commitment to these agreements, considering the ministry as “an entitlement for the Sunni component.”

According to him, the main dispute that caused the delay in finalizing the government formation relates to the position of Deputy Prime Minister, after the Asaib Ahl al-Haq movement nominated Laith al-Khazali, the brother of the movement’s Secretary-General Qais al-Khazali, for the position, amid American objections to this.

The disagreements between the political forces are not limited to ministerial positions, as they extend to the mechanisms for managing the security file and arranging powers within the military establishment, in light of the continued vacancy of the Ministries of Interior and Defense.

Observations and motivations
Private sources told Al Jazeera Net, on condition of anonymity, that the Coordination Framework and the State Administration Coalition have reservations about the establishment of the Military Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, which oversees the military branches affiliated with the Ministries of Interior and Defense and is headed by former Interior Minister Lieutenant General Abdul Amir al-Shammari. These sources indicated that the Coordination Framework and the State Administration Coalition believe the office’s continued existence in its current form is inappropriate and are therefore moving towards demanding its abolition.

For his part, Bilal al-Nasiri, a leader in the State of Law Coalition, told Al Jazeera Net that the distribution of portfolios was decided during the government formation negotiations, according to an agreement within the coordination framework that granted the coalition three ministries: Health, Interior, and Higher Education. He added that the delay in completing the ministerial formation was politically motivated and aimed at disrupting his coalition’s entitlement.

He pointed out that Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had promised more than once to set a date for completing the formation, either after his return from Washington, which he visited on July 14, or after the Arbaeen pilgrimage to the shrine of Hussein in the Iraqi city of Karbala, without a session being held on this matter so far.

In contrast to talk of political pressure to fill the vacant ministries, Al-Nasiri believes that the obstruction is linked to American pressure seeking to postpone the session to complete the formation until the issue of limiting weapons is resolved.

He rejects linking the two issues, considering that completing the government’s formation should not depend on the issue of the factions, and that the continued vacancy of ministries places responsibility for two portfolios on some ministers, stressing that resolving the issue of weapons needs more time, and that the decision regarding it should be “purely Iraqi”.

Disagreement and conflict
For his part, Khalid Walid Al-Marsoumi, a member of the Reconstruction and Development Coalition led by former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani , links the delay in completing the formation to the disagreement that accompanied the first voting session on the government, which resulted in passing part of the formation and leaving 9 ministries vacant.

Al-Marsoumi tells Al Jazeera Net that the issue of deputy prime ministers represents another point of contention, given the two opposing views within the coordination framework and the state administration coalition:

First: He pushes for the passage of the representatives based on the political agreement and the majority within the coalition.
Second: He demands a legal and legislative cover, by resorting to the Federal Court or a competent authority, to resolve the issue of the Deputy Prime Ministers and the Deputy Presidents of the Republic.
Al-Marsoumi believes that the opportunity to finalize the cabinet formation will be more suitable after September 30, noting that the priority at the moment is focused on supporting the government in dealing with weapons outside the framework of the state, containing the repercussions of the ongoing war in the region, in addition to economic and other issues.

Internal and external factors
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, political researcher Omar Al-Nasser believes that the continued vacancy of 9 ministries has become a familiar approach in Iraqi governments, as a result of internal and external factors, most notably American objections to some candidates, and political disputes over the distribution of entitlements and positions.

He points out that the disputes within the Shiite bloc over the ministries of Interior and Labor and the deputy prime ministers, along with the Sunni component’s failure to decide on the ministries of Defense and Culture, as well as the Kurdish disputes, have hindered the completion of the formation, with each party clinging to guaranteeing its entitlements within the government.

Al-Nasser believes that the issue of weapons control has become an indirect political factor in completing the cabinet formation, according to the American vision, which links the issue to reorganizing the influence of armed groups within state institutions, and not just to the performance of civilian ministries. He adds that the strong American objections to some candidates have placed political forces between external pressures and internal compromises.

Nine ministerial portfolios are still awaiting their ministers: Interior, Defense, Planning, Higher Education and Scientific Research, Immigration and Displacement, Reconstruction and Housing, Youth and Sports, Labor and Social Affairs, and Culture, which have remained trapped by political agreements and disputes, while the government continues to manage these files by proxy for more than 4 months.

aljazeera.net