"The INL will officially notify the head of government of its decision soon," Iyad Jamal al-Din told Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone, adding that the decision was taken "after the government insisted on ignoring the demands made in February 2007," implying that the decision would not be reversed.
The INL, which has five portfolios in the cabinet of Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki, announced on August 7, 2007 that it would suspend its participation in the government, and threatened to "withdraw entirely from the government if its demands continued to be ignored," VOI adds.
The INL will submit formal notice of its decision to the prime minister “in the coming week,” Jamal al-Din said, Aswat al-Iraq reports in a separate Arabic-language story.
In February, the INL, which holds 24 out of the total 275 seats in the Iraqi parliament, forwarded 14 demands to the government, including reconsidering the law on terrorism, filtering the army and police of "disloyal elements" and suspending the debaathification law pending an enactment of a new law, as well as
The INL portfolios included justice, communications, science and technology, human rights and a minister of state.
However, only four of the five INL ministers have agreed to quit the government. According to Jamal al-Din, "The minister of science and technology, who belongs to the Communist Party, one of the parties inside the INL, has declined to quit the government, while the others agreed."
The withdrawal of the INL ministers follows the withdrawal of the five ministers of the Sunni Arab Tawafuq Front in the beginning of August, and the withdrawal of the six ministers of the Sadrist bloc earlier in the year.
In fact the INL minister of justice, Hashim al-Shibli, left his position in the spring, citing differences with Maliki.
The following ministers will be formally stepping down, according to Jamal al-Din’s announcement: Wijdan Mikhael, minister of human rights, Muhammad Tawif Allawi, minister of communications, and Muhammad Abbas al-'Uraybi, Minister of State without Portfolio.
Rahid Fahmi, Minister of Science and Technology, affiliated with the Iraqi Communist Party, will not step down, according to Jamal al-Din.
The announcement also comes as revelations emerge, first reported by IraqSlogger, that Iyad Allawi has retained a lobbying firm with close ties to the White House to promote himself in Washington.
The Iraqi cabinet features 37 ministerial positions.
