BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmakers Tuesday rejected Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s nominees to lead the defense and interior ministries, leaving the crucial Cabinet posts unfilled as an emerging U.S.-led coalition intensifies its air campaign against Islamic State extremists who have seized a third of the country.
Control over the two powerful security portfolios has long been a source of tension among Iraq’s feuding political factions, and the failure to agree on the candidates marked the latest in a series of delays in forming a unified government.
The parliament session was held as the U.S. carried out an airstrike near Baghdad for the first time since launching an aerial campaign in early August, and French warplanes flying from the United Arab Emirates began reconnaissance missions over Iraq.
New prime minister Al-Abadi put forward Sunni lawmaker Jaber al-Jabberi as his candidate for defense minister and Shiite lawmaker Riyad Ghareeb as his pick for interior minister. Parliament, which could confirm the nominees with a simple majority, voted 118-117 against Ghareeb and 131-108 against al-Jabberi.
Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki held both the defense and interior minister posts himself after his re-election in 2010 because lawmakers could not reach an agreement on them. That fueled concerns that he was monopolizing power.
The U.S. and other countries have been pushing for a more representative government that can reach out to Sunnis, who felt marginalized by al-Maliki. Sunni discontent is widely seen as having fueled the Islamic State extremist group’s dramatic advance since June.
