Iraq's parliament set to open
March 2, 2005

AFP:

IRAQ'S new 275-member national assembly will hold its first session next week with or without an agreement on the line-up of the country's next government, a Shiite official said today.

"The plan is to open the national assembly next week," between March 6 and 10, said Jawad al-Maliky, deputy to the front-running Shiite candidate for prime minister Ibrahim Jaafari.
"We will open the parliament whether or not there is an agreement," said Mr Maliky, who is Mr Jaafari's number two in the fundamentalist Shiite Dawa party and deputy speaker of the current interim parliament.

"We want to reach an understanding before the parliament and when we convene we want to have reached an understanding about the government and the ministries," he said.

Mr Maliky's comments were the firmest indication to date that the Shiite political coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), wanted the next government to get up and running.

The UIA, which won 140 seats in the January 30 national election, has started negotiations with Iraq's Kurdish Alliance, which amassed 77 seats in the vote and is pressing demands for a federal state and guarantees on the final status of the disputed northern rich oil city of Kirkuk.

A Western official based in Baghdad said Maliky's announcement of an opening date for parliament was a pressure tactic to force the Kurds to agree to join a governing coalition.

Mr Jaafari met Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Massoud Barzani yesterday, and was due to meet Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Jalal Talabani today.

The Western official said it was doubtful the parliament would really open next week, if Mr Jaafari walks away without an agreement from his Kuridstan visit.

Senior Kurdish leader and interim deputy prime minister Barham Saleh told said yesterday the Shiite list was putting heavy pressure on the Kurds to form the government.

"It took them two-to-three weeks before they settled on a candidate and they demand from us immediately to give a yes or no vote, be patient," Mr Saleh said.

Source Link: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12427745-38201,00.html