Court orders Iraq parliament to open

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s highest court yesterday ordered parliament to resume its sessions despite a deadlock among politicians who have…

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s highest court yesterday ordered parliament to resume its sessions despite a deadlock among politicians who have failed to agree on the formation of a government seven months after an inconclusive election.

The ruling may pressure Shia, Sunni and Kurdish factions to speed up efforts to reach a deal, but it does not mean an immediate end to an impasse that has stoked tensions just as Iraq emerges from the worst of the war.

Parliament’s temporary speaker, Fouad Masoum, said he expected to set a date for the session within days. “When I receive the court’s ruling, I will call on all parliamentary blocs to sit down and discuss a date for the session. At the session there should be a consensus among them.”

The deadlock has mainly pitted incumbent Shia prime minister Nuri al-Maliki against a bloc heavily backed by Iraq’s once dominant minority Sunnis.

READ MORE

Parliament met briefly in June but lawmakers left the first session open, saying they needed more time to decide who will hold the nation’s highest offices.

Under Iraq’s constitution the new 325-seat parliament should pick a speaker in its first session and a new president within 30 days. The president would in turn select a prime minister from the biggest bloc and ask the nominee to form a government.

But Iraq’s political blocs are far from reaching a deal. This month, the Shia alliance backed Mr Maliki as its nominee for prime minister after months of argument. The decision by the National Alliance, a merger of Mr Maliki’s State of Law coalition and the Iran-friendly Iraqi National Alliance, was not unanimous.

Mr Maliki remains at odds with some Shia groups inside the national alliance, as well as the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, which won the most seats, 91.

Iraqiya, led by former prime minister Iyad Allawi, is vying to form its own coalition in talks with the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a main faction in the alliance, which opposed backing Mr Maliki for a second term.