Mahdi Ahmed al-Hafez was Minister of Planning in the cabinet appointed by the Interim Iraq Governing Council in September 2003 and in the Iraqi Interim Government

Iraqi Interim Government

The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the Iraqi Transitional Government was installed following the Iraqi National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005...

. A Shia Muslim, al-Hafez was the Iraqi representative to the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 from 1978 to 1980; afterwards, he headed the Arab Economic Research Association in Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

. He is associated with the Iraqi Independent Democrats.

He was elected to the Iraqi Council of Representatives in the Iraqi legislative election of December 2005 as part of the secular Iraqi National List

Iraqi National List

The Iraqi National List is a coalition of Iraqi political parties who ran in the December 2005 Iraqi elections and got 8.0% of the vote and 25 out of 275 seats...

. In May 2007 he announced he was withdrawing from the list to sit as an independent.