Iraqi Shiite vice president resigns

BAGHDAD, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Shiite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi submitted his resignation in protest of creating " unnecessary" top government positions after two weeks of his appointment, a Shiite religious leader said on Monday.

"The resignation of Adel Abul-Mahdi from his position as a Vice President came in response to popular will and in line with the reservations of the (Shiite) religious leadership over the creation of unnecessary government positions," Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Shiite religious party of Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), told reporters in Baghdad.

Hakim hoped that the resignation of Mahdi, an SIIC leading member, would be a message for other political blocs not to fight on positions and to demand slimming Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki' s cabinet.

Mahdi submitted his resignation letter on Friday to President Jalal Talabani, but the president did not accept it yet, a source from the SIIC said on condition of anonymity.

Early in the year, the Iraqi parliament voted by majority on assigning three vice presidents for President Jalal Talabani. But divisions among the Iraqi political blocs, which fiercely fought to gain power by seizing as much positions as they can, delayed the appointment for months.

On May 12, the Iraqi parliament eventually voted for two Shiite politician Adel Abdul Mahdi and Khudair al-Khuzaie from the National Alliance, and Sunni Arab Tariq al-Hashimi from the cross sectarian bloc of Iraqia, to fill the vacancy of the three vice presidents.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/30/c_13901964.htm.