Baghdad – Member of Iraqi Forces Union MP Mohammed al-Karbouli said that Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi was waiting for the quorum to present the names of the seven new ministers.

Al-Karbouli said that yesterday’s session was exceptional and attended by 160 MPs. He added that five more MPs would have sufficed to reach quorum, yet some MPs were travelling and others on sick-leaves. Al-Karbouli told Asharq Al Awsat that five Kurdish MPs were present but preferred not to attend the session for administrative reasons. He said that lack of quorum made it impossible to vote on new minister and thus partially answered the demonstrators’ demands.

Speaker Salim al-Jabouri announced the suspension of work and called on members of parliament to head to the battle fronts and see the situation that fighters deal with, and follow-up with the needs of displaced citizens.

MP al-Karbouli said that what al-Jabouri called for is hard to meet as it is difficult for any member of the parliament to be at the frontlines without cover.

MP of the Kurdistan Alliance Ashwaq al-Jaf said that the issue is different for the Kurdish MPs with the Kurdish Peshmerga. Kurdish MPs are on the frontlines with the Peshmerga forces as it is their duty, al-Jaf said. When asked by Asharq AlAwsat about al-Jabouri’s request that MPs head to battle fronts, al-Jaf said that this means that the MPs support the fighters and the people despite the holiday.