The Iraqi parliament has voted for a no-confidence motion against the finance minister over charges of corruption and mismanagement.
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Hoshyar Zebari, a former foreign minister and prominent Kurdish politician, was ousted after weeks of political wrangling over corruption allegations and accusations of misuse of funds.
“Parliament voted in favor of no-confidence toward Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari”, the lawmaker from The State of Law Coalition, Rahab al-Ubudah, said, adding that 158 out of 328 Iraqi lawmakers voted in favor of sacking the minister.
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Abdulrahim al-Shammari, another MP, confirmed that parliament had voted to remove Zebari, the most senior Kurdish minister in the federal government. Seventy-seven voted against the measure while 14 abstained.
According to the parliamentary speaker’s office, lawmakers rejected Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi’s request to postpone the vote until Iraq meets the loan requirements.
A number of parliamentarians said the dismissal of Zebari and the defense minister were politically-motivated, aimed at undermining al-Abadi’s government.
Iraq has negotiated a stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund under which will provide the country with more than $5 billion over three years, but the shortfall in the Iraqi budget is much larger than that figure. The crisis has forced al-Abadi’s government to introduce austerity measures by eliminating government posts, merging some ministries, halting spending on construction projects and imposing new taxes.
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