The Council of Ministers is the principal executive organ of the Federal Government of the Republic of Iraq.
The Council of Representatives of Iraq elects a President of the Republic who appoints the Prime Minister who in turn appoints the Council of Ministers, all of whom must be approved by the Assembly.
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Iraq consists of 19 governorates (Arabic: محافظة, romanized: muḥāfażah; Kurdish: پارێزگا, romanized: parêzgeh), also known as "provinces". Per the Iraqi constitution, governorates can form a federal region. Four governorates, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Halabja and Duhok, constitute the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region. Baghdad (which is the most populous) and Basra are the oldest governorates. The second most-populous one, Ninawa (or Nineveh) is in the upland region and has a cooler climate of the north-west.
There had been numerous calls to recognize Halabja Governorate since 1999. It was recognized as an official governorate of the Kurdistan Region in 2014, and the Council of Ministers approved a bill twice in 2013, and 2023. The Council of Representatives of Iraq officially approved Halabja as Iraq's 19th governorate on 14 April 2025. On 27 April 2025, Baghdad Today reported of an ongoing government initiative to convert Tel Afar District in Nineveh Governorate into the 20th governorate of Iraq. The proposed name of the new governorate is Jazira.
The prime minister of the Republic of Iraq is the foremost executive of the Iraqi government and the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces. The premier is responsible for the general policy of the state and directs the Council of Ministers, with the power to dismiss and name any senior executive, including ministers and generals. In addition to the armed forces, the premier has direct authority over all of those intelligence and security agencies under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Prime Minister, such as the CTS and the NIS.
On 27 October 2022, Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani became the incumbent prime minister.
Haider Jawad Kadhim al-Abadi (Arabic: حيدر جواد كاظم العبادي; born 25 April 1952) is an Iraqi politician who was Prime Minister of Iraq from September 2014 until October 2018. Previously he served as Minister of Communication from 2003 to 2004, in the first government after Saddam Hussein was deposed.
He was designated as prime minister by President Fuad Masum on 11 August 2014 to succeed Nouri al-Maliki and was approved by the Iraqi parliament on 8 September 2014. Al-Abadi was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2018.