BAGHDAD, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi parliament Tuesday passed three more cabinet members out of eight needed to complete the 22 members in the cabinet of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi amid heated political row.
Up to 261 Iraqi lawmakers attending the 19th parliament session showed approval of the new ministers when Parliament Speaker, Mohammed al-Halbousi, read out their names one by one.
The lawmakers voted in majority for Qusai al-Suhail as higher education minister, Abdul Amir al-Hamdani as culture minister and Nuri Sabah al-Dulaimi as planning minister, while no confidence was given for the two female candidates for the Migration and Education Ministries.
The parliament will convene for a new session on Thursday.
Hassan Khalatti, a lawmaker from Sairoon Coalition, told reporters after the session that Abdul Mahdi would submit new candidates of migration and education portfolios to replace the failed candidates within 24 to 48 hours.
As for the remaining three portfolios of defense, interior and justice, Khalatti said "there is no political consensus yet about the candidates of these ministries as the political blocs still in negotiation about the names of the candidates."
On Oct. 24, Abdul Mahdi was sworn in as the new prime minister of Iraq after the parliament passed 14 out of 22 cabinet members as differences among the political blocs prevented the approval of eight other portfolios.
