Request to set the date for the session of granting confidence .. Al-Zrafi defies his opponents

Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Adnan Al-Zorfi asked the Presidency of Parliament to fix the date of the special session to vote on his government program and give confidence to his government, defying factions and powerful Shiite blocs that refuse to assign him to head the government.

Iraqi sources told Al-Jazeera that Al-Zorfi handed his request for an extraordinary session to Parliament Speaker Mohammed Al-Halbousi officially.

The Prime Minister-designate had announced earlier that he submitted his government program to the presidency of the parliament pending a vote on it, and said that a national government will be formed that derives its legitimacy from the Iraqi parliament, after consulting with the parliamentary blocs, and to meet the demands of the Iraqi street.

He continued that the new government will work on four important axes, which are working to find solutions to the financial crisis, imposing state prestige and the rule of law, conducting free, fair and transparent elections, and establishing balanced international relations for what he described as a strong and moderate Iraq.

In a related context, the deputy in the Iraqi parliament, Falih Al-Ziyadi, suggested that Al-Zarfi presented his government formation consisting of 24 ministerial portfolios to the Iraqi parliament at the end of this week or early next week, within the constitutional deadline.

Al-Ziyadi said that the prime minister-designate needs 167 votes out of a total of 329 members of parliament to pass his ministerial government, as the ministers were chosen according to the mechanism of “component balance, not quotas” and according to criteria set to achieve success in the next stage.

Strong opposition
The eight Iraqi armed factions called on Saturday for political forces to declare their position rejecting the passage of the appointment of Prime Minister-designate Adnan al-Zarfi, and described him as a candidate of US intelligence. And called on the President of the Republic Barham Saleh to name another candidate.

These factions, which are the League of the People of Truth, the Movement of the Nobles, the Brigades of the Master of the Martyrs, the Movement of the Faithful, the Imam Soldiers ’Movement, the Brigades of Imam Ali, the Ashura Brigades, and the Saraya al-Khursani, called on Parliament to thwart the passage of al-Zarfi, and warned that its pass endangered the civil peace in Iraq.

Al-Zarfi is also facing opposition from four parliamentary blocs - most notably the Al-Fateh coalition and the rule of law - that have refused to ask him to form a government, and they have accused President Barham Saleh of bypassing the constitution by mandating without the approval of the largest parliamentary bloc.

In previous statements, Al-Zarfi rejected his accusation by some Iraqi forces that he was close to the United States, and made pledges that included holding the protesters' killers accountable.

It is noteworthy that the Iraqi President assigned Al-Zrafi to form the new government on the 17th of last month, after the failure of the political blocs to nominate a candidate within the constitutional deadline, after the candidate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi’s apology for submitting his cabinet formation within the constitutional deadline.