New Iraqi Cabinet in the works

BAGHDAD, May 23 (UPI) -- A top Iraqi official said Friday the government was waiting for a list of candidates from the main Sunni party before submitting a new Cabinet to Parliament.

Omar Abdul-Sattar with the Sunni coalition Iraqi Accordance Front said his party on Friday submitted a unified list to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, adding the party was waiting for final approval of the candidates.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Baghdad needed a final list before announcing the formation of a new Cabinet, Voices of Iraq reported.

The Iraqi Accordance Front, the Sadrist Movement of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and the Iraqi National List of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi withdrew from the Maliki government in 2007, in part because of outstanding issues regarding prisoners held by the Iraqi government.

Dabbagh said the Iraqi National List would not submit candidates for the new government. The Sunni Awakening Councils, which oversee the paramilitary force Sons of Iraq, refused to take part in a new Cabinet.

The Shiite Fadhila party, which holds political influence in southern Iraq, expressed interest in joining the Maliki government, but so far did not have the support of all of the political parties to do so, Dabbagh said.

Ongoing negotiations between lawmakers with the boycotting parties and the Maliki government resulted in an agreement to produce a new Cabinet.