Iraq .. Muhammad Allawi announces the formation of a government without partisan participation and defines its priorities

Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi said this evening that he had finished forming an "independent government without the participation of political party candidates", and called on Parliament to hold an extraordinary session next week to vote on giving it confidence.

In a televised speech, Allawi said that if the government won confidence, its first measure would be to investigate the killing of protesters and bring the perpetrators to justice.

He also promised to hold "free and fair early elections away from the effects of money, weapons and external interference."

He called on the demonstrators to give his government an opportunity despite "a crisis of confidence towards everything related to political affairs" which blamed it on the failure of his predecessors.

Call and warning
Earlier, outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi urged the country's political leaders to speed up approval of Allawi, warning that he would leave the caretaker job if this was not done by March 2.

Abdul-Mahdi resigned last November in light of a wave of protests and unrest that have killed nearly 500 people since the first of last October.

He remained in the caretaker position, but says he is now ready to leave, which will cause an unprecedented political vacuum at the head of the government.

"It will be incorrect and inappropriate to continue to assume my responsibilities after the date of 2 March 2020, and I will have no choice but to resort to the solutions stipulated in the constitution or the internal system of the cabinet," Abdul-Mahdi, who has already ceased to chair weekly government meetings, said in a statement. ".

The political leadership in Iraq did not agree that Allawi will assume the position of successor to Abdul-Mahdi until February 1, which means that it has exceeded a constitutional deadline to appoint a prime minister within 15 days of the resignation of the person who occupies the position.

Allawi will assume the presidency of a government whose mission is to organize early elections, and the constitution will give him 30 days, that is, until the second of next month, to put his government’s composition in Parliament for approval.

Allawi did not make much progress in light of the dispute between the political factions competing for the portfolios, but he said last Saturday that he will form a government next week.