Iraqis prepare for hard talks on cabinet make-up
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-01-22 08:59

Iraqi parties were preparing for long and hard talks on forming a coalition government, with the victorious Shiite factions likely to call the shots on how broad based it will be.

The intricate negotiations were expected to take weeks, with one Western observer saying he did not expect a full government to emerge before late March -- more than three months after the December 15 elections.

The conservative Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, which holds the largest bloc in the new parliament, with 128 of its 275 seats, has agreed to a government of "national unity", but it remains unclear to what extent minority Sunni Arabs will be represented.

Sunnis are now major players in the political field after they saw their parliamentary representation triple to a total of 58 seats after community leaders had called for an end to their boycott of elections.

The Kurdish Alliance, the main Shiite partners in the outgoing cabinet, won 53 seats and will certainly also be included in the new government line-up.

But Western officials warned it was not just a matter of arithmetic.

"I think it is much more about negotiating package deals," one official said.

"I could imagine that the second half of February, early March will be spent negotiating that (government) programme before they really get into the business of choosing people for the job" of government ministers, the official said.

"Because if they don't agree on the programme, you may see coalition partners drop out," he said.

Mahdi Hafez, a former minister in the provisional government who joined former prime minister Iyad Allawi's cross-sectarian Iraqi National List, said that Shiites because of their numbers favoured divvying up cabinet seats on a proportional basis.

"It's true that the Shiite Alliance favours a government make-up based on electoral results," he said. "But other parties, starting with the Kurds, no longer accept just a Shiite-Kurdish coalition and that's why the Alliance will have to compromise," he added.

The outgoing government counted a few co-opted Sunni ministers, but their presence failed to alleviate fears within the community that minority rights would be respected.

"Sprinkling a few Sunnis at the last minute, almost like parsley flakes on top of a dinner, is not a way to maximize Sunni Arab community buy-in," a western observer suggested.

Political Sunni engagement is seen as essential to isolating insurgents who derive much of their support from the once-powerful community favoured by ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

Sunni leaders have decried the election results, claiming fraud, but while Sunni and other parties have said they will register official complaints with the judicial body charged with certifying the elections, none have so far said they would boycott talks on forming a government.

"Despite these facts (of fraud) we will continue to participate in the political process and these results will not affect our activities because we are aware of our national duty," said Adnan al-Dulaimi of the Iraqi People's Conference Party, one of the main Sunni Arab political parties.

An Iraqi soldier flashes the V-sign for victory as he patrols the streets of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Iraqi parties were preparing for long and hard talks on forming a coalition government, with the victorious Shiite factions likely to call the shots on how broad based it will be.[AFP/Ali al-Saadi]

"We will coordinate with the political blocs that share our principles and form a national unity government," he told AFP.

"We will work to prevent sectarianism from dominating the political process," he added.

The United States, Britain, Canada, and the United Nations all welcomed the election results with US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack saying Washington wanted Shiites, Kurds, Sunni Arabs and others to "work together in cross-sectarian, cross-ethnic efforts to think about forming a government."

Meanwhile, in the latest violence, rebels killed eight people, including three policemen, in a series of attacks across the country.

This followed a series of attacks on US and Iraqi military bases in the Sunni town of Ramadi, 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad, on Friday just as election results were being announced.

A delegation from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) arrived in Baghdad to appeal for the release of American journalist Jill Carroll, abducted in Baghdad on January 7 by gunmen who shot dead her interpreter.

Sunni Arab leaders in Iraq and Muslims around the world have pleaded for her release. A deadline set by her kidnappers, who said they would kill the 28-year-old reporter unless US forces freed Iraqi women detainees, expired late Friday.