Still in deadlock, Iraq parliament delays session

12 Jul 2010 12:21:39 GMT
Source: Reuters
* New two-week deadline is 'definite', says lawmaker

* Shi'ite clerics had warned against missing deadline

By Waleed Ibrahim

BAGHDAD, July 12 (Reuters) - Iraqi politicians on Monday postponed for two weeks a session of parliament that should have picked the country's new president after failing to make any headway in talks on a coalition government, lawmakers said.

The delay in holding the session, due to be held on Tuesday, was due to political deadlock more than four months after a March 7 election and means that parliament has failed to meet a constitutional deadline and entered unconstitutional territory.

Parliament's temporary speaker Fouad Masoum acknowledged that the constitution was being violated.

"Yes, that's right," he said. "But it is, as the proverb says, not the first clay jar to be broken."

Under Iraq's constitution drawn up in the chaotic wake of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the new 325-seat parliament should have picked a new speaker and a new president before July 14. The new president in turn should select a prime minister and ask the nominee to form a government.

But the election produced no outright winner and Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish groups have been locked in a prolonged tussle to negotiate a coalition that could command a working majority.

While the outgoing government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is running the administration in a caretaker capacity, a sense of political vacuum has put the country on edge.

Sunni Islamist insurgents seeking to reignite the sectarian bloodshed that peaked in 2006/07 have claimed responsibility for a string of major bombings since the vote, and dozens of Shi'ite pilgrims died last week in bomb attacks when insurgents targeted a religious festival in Baghdad.

The delay in forming a government occurred as the U.S. military prepares to end combat operations on Aug. 31 and cut its numbers to 50,000 from 77,000 now, ahead of a full withdrawal in 2011.

That places the burden of providing security and battling a weakened but still determined insurgency in the hands of Iraqi troops and police.

CONSTITUTIONAL CONCERNS The agreement to postpone the parliamentary session due to take place on Tuesday was unanimous among all political groups, said Sunni lawmaker Izzalddin al-Dawla. The politicians declined to give an exact date for the next session.

"This decision was made in order to give more time to the political parties to have further talks and it was agreed in the meeting to set this new deadline as a definite one," he said.

A cross-sectarian alliance led by ex-Prime Minister Iyad Allawi took a two-seat lead over Maliki's State of Law coalition in the election after winning strong backing from the Sunni minority which dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

But Maliki and the country's other main Shi'ite-led bloc merged after the vote and are expected to pip Allawi's Iraqiya alliance in the race to eventually form a government.

Iraq's hugely influential Shi'ite clergy had warned against missing the constitutional deadline and some politicians also objected.

"This decision to postpone the session for two weeks is unjustified," said Salim al-Jubouri, a senior member of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party. "After this nobody will respect the constitution." (Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed and Muhanad Mohammed; Writing by Michael Christie)