New coalition urges all blocs to contribute in forming partnership gov. – spokesman

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Spokesman of Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law), Hajem al-Hasni, called on all political blocs to contribute in a government of national partnership counting on efficiency and experience. “The statement released by the new coalition asserted readiness  to cooperate with all winning blocs to form a national partnership government and to join other blocs to represent all Iraqi components,” al-Hasni told IraqiNews.com news agency. “Efforts under way to form a joint commission to start a dialogue with the Kurdistan Alliance as well as al-Iraqiya List, which forms an important part of the Iraqi people to form a government represents Iraqis’ ambitious,” the spokesman added. Almost two months after national elections, Iraq‘s two biggest Shiite blocs announced on Tuesday their merger after weeks of negotiations. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition and the Iraqi National Alliance now have a bloc with 159 seats – just four seats away from the majority they’ll need to form a cabinet. To form a government, a 163-seat majority out of 325 seats is needed. Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s al-Iraqiya bloc had a narrow victory with 91 seats, while al-Maliki won 89. In a statement on its official Web site, the State of Law Coalition said that the two blocs agreed to merge after negotiating for more than a month but that the issue of selecting a prime minister has been postponed. SH (S)/SR 2