* Sadrist MP: Govt will be announced next week

Friday, August 20th 2010

Karbala, Aug. 20 (AKnews) - An official from the Sadrist Current told AKnews on Friday that the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), the Kurds and al-Iraqiya will form the government next week.

Maliki and Allawi and Ammar
The remarks by the Jawad al-Hasnawi came as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition (SLC) appears to have been sidelined after al-Iraqiya, led by former PM Ayad Allawi, decided to break off talks with the SLC over Maliki’s designation of al-Iraqiya as a “Sunni” bloc.

Hasnawi said that the dialogues between the INA and al-Iraqiya were positive and successful, adding that they were done because of the insistence of the SLC on retaining the prime minister’s post for narrow party interests.

The Sadrist Current is part of the INA that came third in March parliamentary elections with 70 seats.
The SLC, a Shia-dominated group, won 89 seats in the elections trailing behind the Sunni-dominated al-Iraqiya which secured 91 seats.

The Kurds have 57 seats in the parliament and constitute the fourth largest parliamentary bloc.
“The meetings between the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) and al-Iraqiya were successful and made significant progress to speed up the formation of the next government…. Our meeting with al-Iraqiya was in the framework of the National Coalition, and not out of it,” said Hasnawi.

The National Coalition was a super bloc created by an alliance between the INA and SLC. But after Maliki refused to step down from office, the fate of the alliance has been plunged into uncertainty.

Hasnawi criticized “Maliki’s insistence on becoming the next prime minister and rejecting the nomination of other candidates… It is this dictatorship that not only separated him from the INA but has isolated him from the political process as well.”

More than five months after parliamentary elections, Iraqi political forces have not been able yet to reach a deal on forming the country’s new government.

Rn/Ms/AKnews