17 June, 2010 Iraq alliance agrees to cut PM's powers
Iraq's two main Shia-led electoral blocs have agreed to rein in the power of the prime minister, potentially paving the way for a deal on a government more than three months after an election, party officials said.
The Shia mega coalition formed by a merger of the two blocs has also won over other small factions that would give it a working majority in the 325-seat parliament and much-needed involvement by representatives of minority Sunnis.
“We have accepted the conditions and standards that were established,” Ali al-Adeeb, a senior member of incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Dawa party, said this week.
“It is a co-ordinating procedure. The two coalitions will jointly monitor the movements of the prime minister, watch him and support him at the same time,” said Adeeb, head coalition negotiator for Maliki’s Dawa-led State of Law bloc.
Iraq’s new parliament convened on Monday for the first time. The inaugural parliamentary session was a major step forward but coalition talks are still expected to last for many more weeks.
The only position that does not appear to be disputed is that of the president, politicians say. Almost everyone assumes outgoing President Jalal Talabani will be reappointed because of the clout of his Kurdish bloc and its 43 seats.
The main impediment among Shia factions to a swift deal has been Maliki’s desire for a second term.
Powerful factions within the Iraqi National Alliance oppose his ambitions and have sought to clip his wings. The emergence of an initial agreement on limiting the prime minister’s powers does not guarantee Maliki’s reappointment.
Qusay al-Suhail, a senior member of anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s movement which controls around 40 of the INA’s 70 seats, said the alliance sought to “institutionalise” the prime minister’s post, meaning its powers would be exercised by a political group rather than an individual.
One of the measures proposed by Maliki’s rivals and agreed to by his allies would be to appoint three deputy prime ministers, each from a different faction and each in charge of one of three major portfolios—security, finance and services.
AP
