Related stories: Iraqi parliament convenes in Baghdad
                    Jawad al-Maliki asked to form next Iraqi govt
                    Iraqi Shiite Alliance nominates new PM candidate 

    BAGHDAD, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani formally tasked Shiite politician Jawad al-Maliki to form a new government on Saturday, bringing an end to a months-long political deadlock.

Jawad al-Maliki speaks to reporters after a meeting of parliament in Baghdad April 22. (Reuters)

    "I would like to inform the brothers and sisters that we decided unanimously to endorse our dear brother Jawad al-Maliki to head the cabinet," announced Talabani shortly after lawmakers re-elected him as president.

    Al-Maliki has 30 days to present his cabinet list to the 275-seat parliament for approval.

    The move put an end to the long political impasse over prime minister nominee, which blocked the formation of a coalition government four months after the December parliamentary elections.

    The Iraqi parliament also elected Sunni Arab politician Mahmoudal-Mashhadani as the new speaker by 159 votes out of the 266 lawmakers who were present at the session with 10 abstained and 97 votes spoiled.

    The stride toward the formation of a new government took place as the Iraqi parliament convened for the second time since the December ballot in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone on Saturday.

    Adnan Pachachi, the oldest lawmaker who had been acting parliament speaker, called the session "a crucial step in Iraq's democratic process."

    The session had been postponed twice in order to allow more time to break the deadlock over the post of prime minister.

    The majority Shiite Alliance decided on Friday to name al-Maliki as candidate for the premiership after the outgoing Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was forced to withdraw his candidacy because of strong opposition from Sunni and Kurdish parties.

    Al-Maliki is the deputy of the oldest Shiite party- the Islamist Dawa party. After the crackdown on the Dawa party during Saddam Hussein's regime, he lived in exile in Syria and Iran in the 1980s and 1990s.

    Since returning home after Saddam was ousted by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, al-Maliki has been a member of a committee asked with purging the government of former members of Saddam's Baath party.

    He also helped draft Iraq's new constitution. After the December general elections, al-Maliki participated in the negotiation to form a new national unity government.

    Al-Maliki's cabinet, the first full-term government since Saddam was toppled, will have to fight an uphill battle to stemout bloody insurgency and rising sectarian violence and boost a battered economy.

    Five U.S. soldiers were killed in two separate roadside bomb attacks south of Baghdad on Saturday, bringing to at least 2,388 the death toll of U.S. military personnel in Iraq since March 2003. Enditem