1st LD: Iraq's Abadi presents list of new cabinet lineup to parliament

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday presented a list of candidates to the parliament for a new cabinet lineup amid growing pressure for political reform, a parliament official told Xinhua.

Abadi met with the parliament speaker and handed him over a list of 14 candidates for the new cabinet and their resumes, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Abadi also reduced his cabinet lineup to 16 members out of 22, and his list did not include the ministers of defense and interior for security reasons, because their ministries are in full combat with Islamic State (IS) militants who seized swathes of territories in northern and western Iraq.

After the meeting, Abadi attended the parliament session and delivered a speech, in which he said that the reform will include over 100 of other high ranking officials.

The parliament then decided to continue discussing the 14 candidates and will vote on them within 10 days, while the approval of other high ranking officials will be within a month.

Abadi's move came amid mounting political row, and after the firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stepped up pressure on Abadi by starting a sit-in protest inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses main government offices and some foreign embassies.

Thousands of Sadr's followers have been camping in an anti-corruption sit-in outside the gates since more than a week ago. Endit