Iraq forms news government, breaking eight month deadlock

After two power-sharing talks, Iraq's main political parties have agreed to form a new government, finally breaking the eight month political deadlock. Kurdish regional president Masoud Barzani, who presided over the talks, called the deal a "national partnership".

The parties reached a deal to keep Nouri Maliki as prime minister, with support from his main opponent Iyad Allawi, who will head a council for national strategy, while his faction get the Speaker's post and the foreign ministry. The presidency of the republic is expected to be retained by the current incumbent, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani. Once parliament convenes, it is expected to begin by electing its own Speaker and his deputies.

The agreement is said to provide checks and balances against the abuse of power by any one group. The US commended Iraq and said the new deal was a "big step forward".

The chamber will then elect the president of the republic who will in turn invite the biggest parliamentary coalition, Maliki's, to nominate its candidate to try to form a government. He would then have a month to try to put an administration together.

Source: BBC News

For more news and expert analysis about Iraq, please see Iraq Focus.

Iraqi merger forms new Shia bloc: the National Alliance

Iraq's two main Shia groups, which performed strongly in recent elections, have merged to form the biggest alliance in the new parliament.

The bloc, to be called the National Alliance, brings together the prime minister's coalition with other Shia factions, including followers of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.

It will be just short of an absolute majority in parliament but well ahead of the rival secular-Sunni bloc.

The new parliament opens on Monday.

After weeks of negotiations, the two Shia coalitions announced they were forming one bloc, and said they had notified the acting speaker of parliament.

Constitution unclear

The new alliance is made up of outgoing Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's State of Law coalition - which came runner-up in the March election - and the third-placed Iraqi National Alliance, along with other Shia factions.

Together, they will command just four seats short of an absolute majority, well ahead of the 91 seats held by Iyad Allawi's secular-Sunni bloc, although it came out first in the elections, with a narrow two-seat lead. Karim Yaqoubi, an INA member, said the Kurdish Alliance would join the new Shia grouping to give them a majority.

The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says that both the Shia and secular-Sunni blocs will now be claiming the right to be asked to form a government. The constitution is unclear on the issue.

In any case, our correspondent says, the Shia bloc has not yet decided who it wants to nominate as prime minister. So the betting is that the first session of parliament will be declared open, and suspended indefinitely until a power-sharing deal is hammered out.

Source: BBC News

For more news and expert analysis about Iraq please see Iraq Focus.