For example, around a third of Iraq's Ministers withdrew from the al-Maliki-led Cabinet last year – yet al-Maliki continued to govern the country. Additionally he would just appoint replacements for the ministers who withdrew from within his group of friends and allies. If that happened in any other country, there would be a call for early elections.
And it was not only Iraq's Kurdish MPs or it's Sunni Muslim MPs who were left out in the cold by al-Maliki's style of leadership. Shiite Muslim MPs from the biggest groups supporting al-Maliki were also deprived of any decision-making powers, especially if they had criticised al-Maliki.
In order to avoid a repeat of this, Shiite Muslim MPs in the so-called National Alliance, are looking at coming up with internal bylaws and a steering committee.
The major Shiite Muslim parties want to form a steering committee that includes a representative from each party, National Alliance MPs told NIQASH. The committee's task is to monitor al-Abadi's performance and to get him to consult with the alliance before making major decisions.
The Shiite Muslim alliance also agreed that no prime minister should be allowed to stay on longer than two terms in office. Additionally any cabinet minister from the National Alliance who isn't doing their job well should be replaced.
While these steps may seem positive to many, an informal survey of the MPs in Iraq's new government yielded a lot of pessimism. Many believe that this new government is going to spend most of its term trying to correct al-Maliki's power-mongering and mistakes – among these, the most prominent one being the fact that Sunni Muslim extremists from the Islamic State group are still in charge of large parts of the country.
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