ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Iraqi parliament is set to vote on Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi’s cabinet on Thursday, forming the country’s new government over six months after elections were held.

Zaidi, a businessman-turned-politician widely seen as a compromise candidate, was by Iraq’s ruling Shiite Coordination Framework for the premiership in a late April meeting, in an attempt to break the deadlock between outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ alp-Sudani and Nouri al-Maliki, head of the State of Law Coalition.

The agenda published by the parliament’s media office on Wednesday includes only one item: “Voting on the ministerial program and the government of the Prime Minister-designate, Mr. Ali Falih al-Zaidi.”

The legislature was initially set to convene on Monday or Tuesday, but disagreements between Shiite blocs on sovereign ministries delayed the session, The New Region has learned.

Sovereign ministries in Iraq include foreign affairs, interior, defense, finance, and oil.

Zaidi’s designation as prime minister was welcomed by a wide spectrum of domestic and foreign powers, including the US, with President Donald Trump personally welcoming the designation. His selection for the top post came after the US vetoed a previous pick in Maliki by the Coordination Framework.

In his farewell address on Wednesday, outgoing Prime Minister Sudani said, "We faced regional and international challenges represented by an escalating conflict that threatens to spread, and we worked to keep the fire away from our land and our people.”

"We are determined to support the new government," he concluded.