REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BAGHDAD -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi named Nizar Salem al-Numan as a candidate for the key post of oil minister on Thursday as part of a cabinet reshuffle aimed at fighting corruption, state television said citing its correspondent.

Abadi also named prominent Shi'ite politician Ali Allawi for the post of finance minister and tagged Sharif Ali bin

al-Hussein, a relative of Iraq's king deposed in 1958, for foreign minister, state TV added.

Abadi presented his new cabinet lineup to parliament as part of a drive to form a technocrat government in the face of

resistance from politicians who fear their entrenched interests could be hurt.

Abadi merged several portfolios and presented a list of 16 ministers while keeping the current defence and interior

ministers, state television said earlier.

The established political parties fear a reshuffle could weaken patronage networks that have sustained their wealth and

influence for more than a decade.

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