Outgoing Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi (L) speaks with his deputy Barham Salih. Iraq's parliament, meeting for only the second time since landmark elections two months ago, failed to pick a new speaker as Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish politicians bickered over cabinet posts.(AFP/Karim Sahib)
Iraqi Parliament fails to agree on Speaker
Iraq's Parliament erupted in acrimony at its second sitting on Tuesday and journalists were thrown out after lawmakers berated leaders for failing to agree on a new government, just two months after historic elections.
When parliamentarians were told that despite last-minute talks that delayed the session no agreement had been reached, even on the post of parliamentary Speaker, several stood up to say leading politicians were letting down the Iraqi people.
"The Iraqi people who defied the security threats and voted, what shall we tell them? What is the reason for this delay?" Hussein al-Sadr, a politician in the bloc led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, asked the Assembly.
As the meeting grew heated, the Interim Speaker ordered journalists to leave and Iraqi television abruptly switched to Arab music.
Mr Allawi walked out of the session shortly afterwards.
"You can say we are in a crisis," Barham Salih, a leading Kurdish politician, told reporters.
Ahead of the meeting blasts echoed across central Baghdad and a militant group said in an Internet statement it had fired four mortars into the fortified Green Zone where politicians were meeting.
There were no reports of damage.
Two months after more than eight million Iraqis braved suicide bombers and insurgent threats to vote in the January 30 polls, many are increasingly angry that despite intensive haggling no agreement has been reached on forming a government.
"It is a farce," 30-year-old taxi driver Mohammed Ahmed Ali said.
"If they couldn't form a government 'til now, how will they lead a country?"
Fighting
The mainly Shiite Islamist alliance, which holds just over half the seats, and the Kurdish coalition that came second in the polls, have been arguing for weeks on a Cabinet line-up.
They have been trying also to involve Sunni Arabs, who dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein but have been left with little representation because most voters in Sunni Arab areas stayed away from the polls due to intimidation and anger.
But no deal has been reached.
Several government officials say the delay has stalled key projects, deepened chaos and hampered efforts to defeat the mainly Sunni insurgency.
Political chaos also dents Washington's plans to increasingly hand over security to Iraqi forces and cut back foreign troops.
Officials said Parliament would meet again to try to agree on a Speaker next week, possibly on Sunday.
The Shiite Islamist alliance and the Kurdish coalition have agreed that the Speaker should be a Sunni Arab, to give the Sunni minority more involvement in politics.
Most of the 17 Sunni Arabs in the 275-member Parliament favour Adnan al-Janabi as their candidate, but he is an ally of Mr Allawi.
Mr Allawi is a secular Shiite who has so far declined to join the Government, saying his bloc will move into opposition.
The Shiite Islamist alliance is backing Fawaz al-Jarba, a Sunni who joined their bloc.
But other Sunnis are against this as he is seen as too close to the Shiite alliance.
Some Sunnis Arabs said that if Mr Jarba was pushed through as Speaker, which the Shiites could do with their parliamentary majority, they would walk out of Parliament, leaving attempts to draw them into politics in tatters.
Long road ahead
Once a Speaker is agreed, the National Assembly's next task will be to elect a president and two vice presidents.
A two-thirds majority is needed for that, which will mean the Shiites and Kurds must reach a deal to muster enough votes.
The presidential triumvirate will then have two weeks to choose a prime minister, who will then appoint a Cabinet.
The Shiites and Kurds have broad agreement that Shiite Ibrahim Jaafari will be the next prime minister, with veteran Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani taking the president's post.
But officials have not agreed on the distribution of Cabinet posts.
The Kurds are expected to retain the Foreign Ministry, with the Defence Ministry going to a Sunni Arab.
But the key Oil Ministry is a source of disagreement. The Kurds covet it, but the Shiite alliance insists it should get the ministry.
Violence
Meanwhile, insurgents have pressed on with their campaign of violence.
Three Romanian journalists - Marie Jeanne Ion and Sorin Miscoci of Prima TV and Ovidiu Ohanesian of Libera newspaper - were kidnapped in Iraq on Monday.
Ms Ion's mother told Romanian television her daughter sent a text message from her mobile telephone saying: "We're kidnapped. This is not a joke."
In Kirkuk, a car bomb has exploded near an Iraqi army patrol and the convoy of a local official.
One person was killed and 15 were wounded.
- Reuters
The head of the Iraqi National Congress Ahmad al-Chalabi listens to a reporter's question during the second session of the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad, March 29, 2005. Prime Minister Iyad Allawi walked out of a meeting of Iraq's parliament on Tuesday after angry scenes erupted, with assembly members berating Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders for failing to agree on a government. REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz
Iraqi Finance Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi arrives at the parliament's session in Baghdad, March 29, 2005. Iraqi politicians delayed the start of a session of parliament on Tuesday for last-minute talks to try to overcome a damaging impasse over forming a government two months after historic elections. The Shi'ite official Abdul Mahdi is expected to be the country's next President. REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz
Hussein al-Shahristani, a Shi'ite nuclear scientist, speaks to reporters regarding the delay of the Iraqi parliament session in Baghdad March 29, 2005. Iraqi politicians delayed the start of a session of parliament on Tuesday for last-minute talks to try to overcome a damaging impasse over forming a government two months after historic elections. Al-Shahristani, who spent 12 years in Saddam Hussein's jails, was expected to be named as one of the deputy speakers. REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz
