Ayad Allawi has reportedly threatened to quit the power-sharing government according to an interview with Britain's Times newspaper on Tuesday. "Power-sharing is not happening," Allawi said. "It is not set to work in a meaningful way... If it does not change, I will not participate." Despite his Iraqiya block narrowly winning elections in March, Allawi […]
It seems that the newly-appointed Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and his team are having to be increasingly inventive in their efforts to piece together a new cabinet. Creating, in effect, two energy ministries – if indeed these rumours are true – will help increase the size of the cabinet pie that he can then dole […]
A confidante of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki claims there will be a shake-up in the oil and energy portfolio when the new cabinet positions are announced. According to Iraq Oil Report, Hussain al-Shahristani will move from his current position as Minister for Oil and Acting Minister for Electricity, into a newly-created Deputy Prime Minister role […]
Iraq's newly-appointed President, Jalal Talabani (pictured), is apparently using his full allowance of 15 days to formally appoint a new Prime Minister, thus allowing the haggling over the details to continue. And while Nouri al-Maliki remains the 'agreed' candidate, we should never under-estimate the Iraqi parliament's ability to throw us a last-minute surprise. If al-Maliki […]
Just as Iraq's politicians had finally hammered out a deal to create the next government, Ayad Allawi [Iyad Allawi] joined an estimated 57 Iraqiya MPs in walking out of the chamber. The parliament, meeting in only its second session since the election in March, had just elected as Speaker Osama al-Nejeifi [al-Nujaifi], a Sunni hard-liner […]
Our sources in Iraq tell us that negotiations are expected to continue late on Wednesday to decide the formation of the next Iraqi government, and it looks likely that the parliamentary session that had been postponed until Thursday will be delayed further. It is now generally accepted that Nouri al-Maliki will retain the position of […]
Iraq Business News has received information late on Sunday that between 30 and 34 politicians have defected from Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya bloc, and will support Nouri al-Maliki's bid to form the next Iraqi government. Although these rumours are still unconfirmed, they are from a source trusted by Iraq Business News. The details are understood to […]
The al-Iraqiya political coalition, which includes prime-ministerial candidate Ayad Allawi, has stated its objection to the outgoing government’s rounds of licensing gas and oil investments by foreign companies, regarding them as breaching the constitution and violating the law, according to a report from AKnews. This might expose the Ministry’s officials to legal accountability by the […]
It has been a busy week politically in Iraq, with both good and bad news emerging from the country: The last American combat brigade left the country on Thursday morning, seven years after the US-led invasion; 6,000 support troops will remain until the end of the month, and a further 50,000 will stay until the […]
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his main rival for the top position, Ayad Allawi, met on Tuesday to discuss a resolution to the ongoing parliamentary stalemate. This was only the second meeting between the two men since the inconclusive 7th March election. While this was welcome news, Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the prime minister, […]
