4 November 2010
Iraq parliament to meet, Maliki may form govt
BAGHDAD - Iraq’s parliament will meet on Monday to elect a speaker, the chamber said on Wednesday, a move that could break an eight-month political deadlock and lead to Nuri al-Maliki’s reappointment as prime minister.
Iraq has been without a new government since an inconclusive March election. The Sunni-backed cross sectarian Iraqiya bloc won the most seats, but Maliki’s faction has since combined with other Shia groups and reached deals with minority Kurds, and that may keep him in power.
In a sign that some in Iraqiya no longer believe it can form a government, one of its lawmakers said a group of up to 30 of its parliamentarians intend to back a government led by Maliki.
“We are with whoever wins 50 percent plus one and he is the only one who has, so he has the right (to form a government),” said the lawmaker, Ahmed al-Ureibi, who belongs to a mainly Sunni group of Iraqiya politicians from around the country.
Another member of that group said a final decision is likely to be made on Sunday.
The country’s highest court last month ordered lawmakers to get to work and resume sessions, putting pressure on Shia, Sunni and Kurdish factions to accelerate efforts to reach an agreement on a governing coalition.
Tensions have grown during the political deadlock, and Arab countries and US officials fear Sunni anger could boost a weakened but stubborn al Qaeda-led insurgency if Iraqiya does not play a major role in government.
Although violence has subsided since the height of sectarian warfare in 2006-07, Iraq remains torn along ethno-sectarian lines as US forces prepare to withdraw next year.
At least 64 people were killed and 360 wounded from a series of bomb blasts in mainly Shi’ite areas of Baghdad on Tuesday, just days after 52 hostages and police were killed when al Qaeda-linked gunmen seized a Syrian Catholic cathedral.
The main US military spokesman in Iraq, Brigadier General Jeffrey Buchanan, said Iraq could expect more attacks like those two major assaults, which he said bore al Qaeda hallmarks.
“We have seen some progress in government formation in the negotiations between the parties ... Once we have a real breakthrough and a government’s announced, I think it’s likely that we’ll see another series of attacks,” Buchanan said.
Need a miracle
Iraq parliament to meet, Maliki may form govt
BAGHDAD - Iraq’s parliament will meet on Monday to elect a speaker, the chamber said on Wednesday, a move that could break an eight-month political deadlock and lead to Nuri al-Maliki’s reappointment as prime minister.
Iraq has been without a new government since an inconclusive March election. The Sunni-backed cross sectarian Iraqiya bloc won the most seats, but Maliki’s faction has since combined with other Shia groups and reached deals with minority Kurds, and that may keep him in power.
In a sign that some in Iraqiya no longer believe it can form a government, one of its lawmakers said a group of up to 30 of its parliamentarians intend to back a government led by Maliki.
“We are with whoever wins 50 percent plus one and he is the only one who has, so he has the right (to form a government),” said the lawmaker, Ahmed al-Ureibi, who belongs to a mainly Sunni group of Iraqiya politicians from around the country.
Another member of that group said a final decision is likely to be made on Sunday.
The country’s highest court last month ordered lawmakers to get to work and resume sessions, putting pressure on Shia, Sunni and Kurdish factions to accelerate efforts to reach an agreement on a governing coalition.
Tensions have grown during the political deadlock, and Arab countries and US officials fear Sunni anger could boost a weakened but stubborn al Qaeda-led insurgency if Iraqiya does not play a major role in government.
Although violence has subsided since the height of sectarian warfare in 2006-07, Iraq remains torn along ethno-sectarian lines as US forces prepare to withdraw next year.
At least 64 people were killed and 360 wounded from a series of bomb blasts in mainly Shi’ite areas of Baghdad on Tuesday, just days after 52 hostages and police were killed when al Qaeda-linked gunmen seized a Syrian Catholic cathedral.
The main US military spokesman in Iraq, Brigadier General Jeffrey Buchanan, said Iraq could expect more attacks like those two major assaults, which he said bore al Qaeda hallmarks.
“We have seen some progress in government formation in the negotiations between the parties ... Once we have a real breakthrough and a government’s announced, I think it’s likely that we’ll see another series of attacks,” Buchanan said.
Need a miracle
Iraq’s parliament has sat only once — in June for 17 minutes — since the March election.
Jalal al-Din al-Sagheer, a senior member of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which is the one Shia political group still resisting Maliki’s nomination, said it seemed likely Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd would stay in his position.
But he said he was not confident that any of the other positions would be resolved.
“We need more than a miracle to say that by next Monday a real solution will be achieved. Anyway, I am not optimistic,” he said.
Ureibi told Reuters the three top jobs, the speaker’s post, the presidency and the prime ministership, would all be decided in Monday’s parliamentary session.
Shia and Kurdish politicians have said for days that Maliki’s return as prime minister was all but assured but that he needed a Sunni component if the new government is going to try and heal sectarian wounds.
Iraqiya leader Iyad Allawi has resolutely refused to join a government led by Maliki. In an interview in Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Wednesday, he said he was contemplating going into opposition.
Kurdish regional president Masoud Barzani has called a meeting of all blocs in the Kurdish capital Arbil, which may take place on Sunday, to see if a final deal is possible.
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