Demonstration launched in Basra, Karbala, banned in Kut

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A demonstration was launched in Basra city on Friday demanding to stop violating the constitution, and to accelerate the process of forming the new government. But police prohibited a similar demonstration in Kut city. Although the demonstrators in Kut had obtained the required permissions to launch the demonstration from the Wassit Provincial Authority, police forces prevented them from demonstrating under the pretext that the demonstrators have to get permission from the Iraqi interior minister exclusively. The demonstrators in Basra demanded to end the Parliament’s open session, and to speed up the process of forming an active and strong national unity government. Similar protest was staged in Karbala, during which angry men demanded to stop violating the constitution and to hold new legislative elections. Iraq surpassed the previous record for the country that has gone the longest between holding a parliamentary election and forming a government, experts say, according to the Washington Post. As politicians jockey for positions and broker deals in backroom meetings, many Iraqis now say they wonder why they risked their lives to vote on March 7. U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that the lack of an elected government has limited Iraq’s ability to make national decisions and could eventually eat away at hard-earned security gains. The most optimistic of Iraqi politicians expect the process to take at least another month, if not much longer. Government formation in Iraq is complicated by both the country’s multiparty system and violence in the streets. Lawmakers are elected and in turn vote for the president, who gives the largest coalition in the parliament the first opportunity to choose the prime minister and form the government. That government needs a simple majority of the 325 lawmakers to back it. Election day was followed by a slow trickle of results and weeks in which politicians accused one another of fraud. The extremely close tallies for the top two parties – former prime minister Ayad Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc, which won 91 seats, and Shiite incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law bloc, which won 89 – has lead to months of tense start-and-stop negotiations as both men fight for Iraq’s top government job. MH (S)/SH 1