Sources in Iraq report that the Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood was virtually excluded from the new cabinet, partially announced by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday. According to the report:
Since March, Iyad al-Sammarai has been out as parliament speaker (he is the deputy secretary general of the Iraqi Islamic Party and de facto #2 in the Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood ; his role as parliamentary speaker marked the second time a Muslim Brotherhood member held the nation’s senior legislative position since the invasion). Yesterday, the Iraqi Parliament approved part of the new cabinet. Here is an update on the losses of the Muslim Brotherhood:
LOSSES – The Iraqi Accord Front (Tawafuq) lost the ministries of communications, culture, and state for foreign affairs. The Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) lost the ministries of higher education and planning. The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) lost the ministry of state (no portfolio).
GAINS – Dindar Shafiqq of the KIU is the new Minister of Displacement and Migration and is the acting Minister of State for Civil Society (that position will likely be filled in the next vote). The Tawafuq and IIP no longer hold any ministerial posts.
A post from March discussed the poor showing by the Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood in Iraq’s parliamentary elections.
As discussed in a post from October 2009, Usama al-Tikriti was chosen to head the Iraqi Accord Front and who had previously been chosen to head the IIP. Usama al-Tikriti is also the father of Anas al-Tikriti, the former leader of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) and now a leader in the British Muslim Initiative (BMI), both part of the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood.
The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) has been identified by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kurdistan. The BBC has a short profile on the KIU:
Also known as Yekgirtu, the Kurdish Islamic Union is the largest Islamic organisation in Iraqi Kurdistan. It was formally established in 1994. The group’s leaders fought the 1992 legislative elections in Kurdish-controlled Iraq, winning third place behind the KDP and PUK. The party is currently led by Secretary-General Sheikh Salah al-Din Muhammad Baha al-Din. The party is supported mainly by donations from Saudi Islamic organisations. Active in charity work in the region, the party has been building mosques, clinics and schools in rural areas, where it has a strong following.
The KIU won four seats in the recent election as opposed to the five it won in December 2005.