BAGHDAD, April 28, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Iraq’s Parliament approved Thursday, April 28, a partial Cabinet of ministers, ending three months of political deadlock that crippled efforts to form a new government since the January elections in the war-torn country.

Sunni Arab leaders expressed their disappointment over the partial line-up and warned a fresh political crisis loomed if their demands for better representation were not met, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The new government was overwhelmingly okayed by 180 deputies from 185 present in the 275-seat National Assembly, the parliament speaker Hajim Al-Hassani said.

The partial Cabinet will include 27 ministers and five acting ministers; oil, defense, electricity, industry and human rights, until final names are decided.

Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, who is a leading member of the Shiite Unified Iraqi Alliance which emerged victorious in the January elections, will be acting defense minister, a position supposed to go to a Sunni Arab.

Ahmed Chalabi, member of the Shiite Unified Iraqi Alliance, will be one of four deputy prime minister and acting oil minister.

The interior ministry will be headed by Shiite Bayan Jabbor and the post of finance minister will be held by Shiite Ali Abdul Amir Allawi.

Kurdish official and former Vice President Rowsch Nouri Shaways will be another deputy prime minister and acting electricity minister.

Hoshyar Zebari, the Kurdish foreign minister in the outgoing government of prime minister Iyad Allawi, keeps his post in the new government.

Abdel Basset Karim, Kurdish, will hold the portfolio of trade in the new cabinet.

Parliament’s vote of confidence followed prolonged haggling between the Shiite Unified Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdish grouping over the division of cabinet seats.

Addressing the 275-member parliament, Jaafari acknowledged that he had major difficulties in putting together his coalition cabinet to include the different Iraqi sects.

“There have been certain differences among certain groups,” he told parliament, adding that some nominations had to be changed at the very last minute because of bickering among the sects.

He stressed that the five portfolios, whose ministers have not been named, will be soon filled.

Jaafari has been striving to include as many Iraqi factions as possible in his new government.

Last-minute talks involved the level of participation by members of the Sunni-based National Front, which had demanded at least seven ministerial posts along with a post of deputy premier.

Sunni Arab leaders expressed their disappointment over the line-up and warned a fresh political crisis loomed if their demands for better representation were not met.

Vice President Ghazi Al-Yawar, a Sunni tribal leader, warned that Sunni ministers could step down if his minority community did not obtain more posts.

“It's simple and easy, if they (Shiites) fail to satisfy the Sunni Arabs .... then I think the Sunnis might simply withdraw their candidates” from the government, he told reporters.

Sunnis, said Yawar, should also be free to chose their own candidates for the defense and human rights portfolios.

“It is true that the number of ministries (allocated to Sunnis) is less than what we hoped for,” he said, adding he had gone along with the deal because of the need to break the political deadlock.

“I'm not totally satisfied with this government,” said Yawar.

The Sunni-based National Front said it would withdraw from negotiations to complete the government line-up.

“The decision was taken after the Iraqi premier broke his word on declaring a national political program before naming his new government,” Saleh Al-Mutlaq, member of the front’s five-man committee, told the Doha-based Al-Jazeera news channel.

Sunni lawmakers were also very critical of the new partial cabinet.

“What did we get? The ministry of culture, but everyone knows there's no culture in this country torn by violence. The ministry of tourism. But what tourism?” asked Modhar Shawkat, a Sunni MP elected on the Shiite alliance list.

Mishan Al-Juburi, another Sunni MP, lashed out at Sunni leaders for agreeing to the government deal and even called Yawar “a traitor”.

“I feel real pain when I see that this government has turned its back on a key element of the Iraqi people, Sunni Arabs,” he said.

Another Sunni leader, Adnan Dulaimi who heads the waqf -- or religious endowments -- said his community had been “marginalized” in the new government.

He argued that Sunnis had also “marginalized themselves by boycotting the elections”.

The majority of Sunnis did not cast ballot in the polls, citing lack of transparency and fair play under the US occupation.

The Association of Muslim Scholars, the highest Sunni religious authority in Iraq, championed the call for selection boycott.

The Islamic Party of Iraq, the main Sunni political party, had quit the election race also over aggravating insecurity.

After forming the new line-up, the Iraqi National Assembly will get busy writing a permanent constitution.