Iraq: The Latest Political Moves

The Majlis political blog offers a round-up of the latest manoeuvres for power after Iraq's inconclusive election:

The horse-trading continues in Iraq: Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki is trying to cement a possible merger with the Iraqi National Alliance [predominantly "religious" Shi'a), but the Sadrist movement seems reluctant; and [former Prime Minister] Iyad Allawi is trying to attract Kurdish support, but the Kurds seem reluctant.

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There's a lot to keep track of, so we've rounded up a bullet-point list of the latest political maneuverings. We'll do similar lists in the coming days as they're needed.



*Allawi met with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani. Allawi is trying to drum up Kurdish support -- Talabani is a Kurd -- but that will be a difficult slog: Many Kurds distrust Allawi's Iraqiyya coalition, not because of Allawi himself, but because of the staunch Arab nationalism of some coalition partners (particularly the al-Hadba party).

Kurds worry that they will undermine their own interests by joining Iraqiyya: "For us, dealing with al-Iraqiya List is impossible," Feryad Rawanduzi, a senior Kurdish official from President Talabani's party, told the Kurdish Peyamner news agency. "There are some groups within al-Iraqiya List whose agenda and way of thinking is different from us."

*Maliki met with [former Prime Minister] Ibrahim Jaafari, the head of the National Reform Trend, a member of the Iraqi National Alliance.

There's a lot of bad blood between the two men: Maliki succeeded Jaafari as the head of the Dawa party, and Jaafari didn't leave voluntarily. But they seem to be burying the hatchet (Maliki is trying to craft a merger with the INA, remember), which has the Sunni Arab world once again fretting about Iran's influence.

*Moqtada al-Sadr asked his supporters to vote on whether the Sadrist movement should back Allawi or Maliki (or a third party). Sources close to Sadr say he wants Allawi to play an important role(عربي) in the next government; a referendum could give Sadr some political cover to split from his colleagues in the INA and back Allawi.

*Allawi's aides met with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shi'ite cleric, and asked him to issue an interpretation of article 76 of the Iraqi constitution, which deals with the formation of a new government. Iraq's Federal Supreme Court (which may not even have jurisdiction over the issue) ruled last week that article 76 allows either Maliki or Allawi to form the next government.