On April 28 it was approved by the transitional Iraqi National Assembly, which had been elected in January 2005.

It operated under the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period, and its main functions were to draft a permanent Constitution of Iraq and to form a transitional government.

Although the President is the chief of military and head of state, the Prime Minister is the head of government who exercises most executive powers.

They then propose the Prime Minister from the largest party, who must also be approved by a two-thirds majority; the Prime Minister then proposes the Council of Ministers, who must be approved with a two-thirds majority.

The current Council of Ministers was sworn in on May 3 but several key posts were left vacant.