Iraq’s top judge congratulates country on new cabinet ‘different’ from predecessors

BAGHDAD — Supreme Judicial Council President Faiq Zaidan congratulated Iraqis and political parties Friday on the formation of the new government, describing it as having “a different character from its predecessors.”

“We hope this government succeeds in improving the reality of the Iraqi state and fulfilling the aspirations of its great people, and bringing it to the level that gains the acceptance and satisfaction of the supreme religious authority,” Zaidan said in a statement, referring to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani’s Marjaiya in Najaf.

Parliament granted confidence to Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s government Thursday, approving 14 ministers before the cabinet took the constitutional oath. Several ministries remain unresolved, with confidence withheld from nominees for planning, higher education, interior, construction and housing and culture. Voting on defense, labor, migration and youth and sports was postponed following political disputes inside the chamber.