VPs launch “brave initiatives” to form new govt.

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq‘s Vice-Presidents Tareq al-Hashimi and Adel Abdulmahdi agreed to launch “brave initiatives” to secure the formation of a new Iraqi government, according to a statement by Hashimi’s office on Saturday. “Hashimi and Abdulmahdi discussed on Friday evening the efforts to form the new government,” read the statement as received by IraqiNews.com news agency. It added that “both sides have agreed to issue “brave and responsible” initiatives to form a national-partnership government”. Differences among political blocs reached their zenith between the main two blocs, al-Iraqiya of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and the State of Law of incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, with the first obtaining 91 out of the new parliament’s 325 seats while the second obtained 89. The State of Law formed a coalition with the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) to garner the largest number of seats in the new parliament. This claim was rejected by al-Iraqiya bloc, which argued that it had been the winner of the largest number of seats in the parliament and that it has the right to form the new government. Iraq’s March 7 nationwide elections had ended with four main Iraqi political blocs obtaining most seats, as Iraqiya won 91 seats, followed by Maliki’s State of Law with 89 seats, Ammar Al-Hakim’s INA with 70 seats and the Kurdistan Alliance of Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barazani and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani as well as a number of Kurdish Islamic parties with 57 seats. SKH(P)/SR/AmR 1