Iraq's rival politicians to discuss new government face-to-face

Mon, 08 Nov 2010

Arbil/Baghdad - Leading Iraqi politicians are to meet face to face on Monday for the first time since the March 7 elections in a bid to break the deadlock on forming a new government.

No single party won an outright majority in the election and attempts to realign parties and form new coalitions to secure a majority bloc have so far failed to produce a consensus for the post of prime minister.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his main rival Iyad Allawi, who are vying for the post, would attend the meeting in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, sources from their parties said.

Although the two men met twice during the summer, Monday's meeting marks the first time leading politicians from the four major political blocs are coming together.

"I think the political blocs took a long enough time for negotiations. Therefore, we must reach a solution and form the new government," Kurdish lawmaker Mahma Khalil told the German Press Agency dpa.

"After months of exchanging ideas and discussions, we must reach a deal in Arbil and go to the parliament session with defined candidates for the top posts so that lawmakers would vote for it," he added.

A parliamentary session, which would have been only the second time parliament had convened since March, was delayed until Thursday due to the Arbil meeting called for by Kurdish President Massoud Barzani.

Lawmakers held only one session in mid-July that lasted just 20 minutes.

Allawi insists he has the right to form a new government because his bloc won the most seats.

But al-Maliki argues that he now has the largest bloc in the parliament with 159 deputies, after forming the Shiite-dominated National Alliance with Ammar al-Hakim's Iraqi National List. That total, however, is still four seats short of a majority.

However, reports suggest that al-Maliki will head a national unity government, while the posts of president and parliament speaker will go to the Kurdish and Sunni blocs respectively.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/352461,discuss-new-government-face-to-face.html.