Kurdish parliament ratifies new, slimmed-down, cabinet

Oct 28, 2009, 12:58 GMT

Arbil, Iraq - The Kurdish parliament ratified radical changes to the structure of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq on Wednesday, Kurdish news agencies reported.

The new government in the semi-autonomous region will now consist of only 19 ministries, instead of the 42 that previously ran the region's local affairs, the Kurdish AK News Agency reported.

The parliament ratified Kurdish Prime Minister Barham Salih's ministerial appointments, following the parliament's decision to merge 10 ministries and close three others.

Salih, a veteran politician from Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), served as Kurdish prime minister from 2001 through 2004 - when he was appointed deputy prime minister of the transitional government of Iraq.

The PUK and its partner in the ruling coalition, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), divided the lion's share of cabinet seats, apportioning themselves seven each. The ministers with the crucial interior, peshmergas (armed forces), finance, oil and natural resources portfolios kept their posts.

Four others were divided between the Islamic Movement in Kurdistan, the Communist Party, and representatives of the region's Turkmen and Christian minorities. Salih had offered a seat to the Jamaa al-Islamiyya, but the group refused it, leaving it empty.

The new cabinet is expected to meet with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, who is himself an ethnic Kurd, and the president of the semi-autonomus Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani later on Wednesday.