For the second time in two months Iraq’s parliament has
sacked a minister. On September
21, 2016 Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari was dismissed after 158
parliamentarians voted to remove him versus 77 against. Zebari was called
before parliament several weeks earlier for questioning over corruption
charges. His responses were considered inadequate leading to his no confidence vote.
Leading
the charge to get rid of him was MP Haitham
al-Jabouri of the Dawa Party. This was part of former prime minister Nouri
al-Maliki’s attempt to undermine Premier Haidar Abadi’s government.
Maliki was able to play upon divisions within the Kurdish
alliance and dislike of the list to get rid of Zebari. First, President Massoud
Barzani has stayed
in office after his term expired causing dissension in Kurdistan. The
Change party demanded reforms in return for extending Barzani’s term. The
president responded by unilaterally dismissing Change’s ministers and barring
the speaker of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s parliament from entering
Irbil who was also a member of Change. That led Change and the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan (PUK) to form a new political alliance.
The Kurdish Islamic parties have been unhappy with Barzani’s moves as well.
That led those groups to vote
against Zebari in parliament. Second, as Kirk Sowell of Inside Iraqi
Politics pointed out President Barzani is one of the most unpopular politicians
in Iraq. Unhappiness with Maliki’s time in office led Barzani to write off
relations with Baghdad. Since then he has increasingly talked about Kurdish
independence, his party has called Iraq a failed state, has moved towards
independent oil exports, while at the same time complaining that the central
government has not shared international military aid with the KRG and demanded
its share of the budget. These moves and others have all angered many Arab
politicians. Zebari is not only a member of Barzani’s KDP, but the president’s
uncle as well making him a prime target. Together this allowed Maliki’s
operatives to garner enough votes to oust the finance minister.
This is another big victory for Maliki and a hit for Abadi.
In August
Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi failed a no confidence vote over corruption
charges. Both the defense and finance ministers were important to Abadi’s
government. When Maliki was in office he was masterful at playing divide and
conquer allowing him to take on nearly every faction in Iraq. He is doing the
same now. Maliki’s group was able to play upon the divisions within the two
main Sunni parties, the Iraqi Islamic Party and Mutahidun to sack Obeidi. He
now played upon the Kurds new splits to do the same to Zebari. That doesn’t
mean that Maliki will be able to put the numbers together to get rid of other
ministers, but it does open the door to it. Abadi already came into office in a
weak position, and now his legs are being further cut out from under him.
SOURCES
AIN, “The formation of a coalition featuring a unified
Kurdish Patriotic Union and Change,” 9/10/16
Anagnostos, Emily, “Iraq’s
Parliament Ousts Kurdish Finance Minister,” Institute for the Study of War,
9/21/16
Iraq News Network, “Zebari accused al-Maliki of moving
interrogations to hit Abadi,” 8/30/16
Iraq Oil Report, “Uncertainty after
Parliament ousts Iraq’s finance minister,” 9/21/16
Al Mada, “Zebari: personal
targeting misleading statements adopted,” 8/25/16
Rudaw, “Iraq’s finance minister likely to face confidence
vote in parliament,” 8/28/16
Sotaliraq, “Image..Al-Jabouri after
the dismissal of Zebari,” 9/21/16
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