BAGHDAD, April 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Nearly three months
after the widely hailed elections on Jan. 30, Iraqi winning parties again failed
to agree on the formation of a new government on Monday.
Lawmakers hinted the delay was due to the last minute
talk between the alliance led by the outgoing Prime Minister Iyad Allawiand
other big winners.
"We offered Allawi's group some portfolios but they
insisted on others which we think should belong to the UIA (United Iraqi
Alliance), to name some, the security ministries," said Jawad al-Maliky, a key
member of the UIA.
Maliky, whose bloc won the majority parliamentary
seats and thusis in charge of forming the transitional government, held Allawi's
alliance -- the Iraqi List -- responsible for hindering the political process.
"We sent them letters about forming the government
but they had too many demands, and at the same time it was too late (to satisfy
their demands)," said Maliky.
It seemed they did not want to participate in the
government andwould rather work as an opposition bloc in the parliament, he told
reporters at the sidelines of a parliamentary session held inside the heavily
fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.
Earlier reports said UIA leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari,
nominated asthe prime minister, suggested he could announce a new cabinet lineup
without supporters of Allawi's party.
Jaafari's clergy-endorsed bloc has always accused
Allawi, a secular Shiite favored by Washington, of bringing members of
SaddamHussein's Baath Party in the interim government and the security forces.
Allawi's alliance, having only 40 out of the 275
seats and legging far behind Shiite and Kurdish blocs, has demanded five
ministerial posts, including one senior portfolio and a vice premiership.
"The Iraqi List won 40 seats and therefore it should
have its justifiable electoral rights," said Hussein al-Sadr, a key member of
the alliance.
"If they (Shiite and Kurdish blocs) want to form a
government standing for national unity and accordance, how can they do it
without the Iraqi list," Sadr said after Monday's session.
He warned of possible "surprises" in Iraqi streets if
his list is ignored but stopped short of elaborating what the surprises might
be.
Sunni Arabs, who largely stayed away from the Jan. 30
polls, were to given up to seven portfolios including that of a deputy prime
minister and the defense minister, according to Maliki.
However, he said the prime minister-designate would
have the final say on how many vice prime ministerial posts there would be, as
the interim constitution did not put any limits on the number ofthat post.
"If there are only two deputies, they will be a
Turkoman and a Sunni Arab," noted Maliki.
Jaafari, chief of the Islamic Dawa Party, has said he
would set up a cabinet based on a broad coalition of all the ethnic and
religious communities.
But the horse-trading talks and negotiations on the
distributionof the main posts aroused repulsion from small parties within the
National Assembly.
"Sharing power doesn't equal political accord, and I
approve that a minister should be any Iraqi believing in the government andin
building a unified democratic and federal Iraq," said Hamid Majid Musa, general
secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party.
"Delaying the announcement of the government is a
mistake and itis harmful for the Iraqi society," he said in a press release.
"The delay is due to differences over the shares,
power, chairs,and decision making positions," he added.
The US administration has pressed Iraqi parties to
put away disputes and end the 12-week-long stalemate over forming a new
government, according to a New York Times report.
The pressure came as insurgents appeared striking
back on US forces and the US-backed Iraqi security forces, taking advantage
ofthe retarded political process.
More than 400 Iraqi policemen and national guards
were killed inthe last two months, breaking a relative lull following the
successfully guarded elections. Enditem
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