- Al-Maliki's new government met for the first Sunday May 21, 2006. The prime minister hopes the government will eventually improve Iraq's military and police forces, persuade the insurgents to lay down its weapons and disband militias, reduce sectarian violence and restore stability to Iraq.
- On June 8, 2006, the Iraqi parliament has approved Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's nominees for the key government posts of defence and interior ministers. Jawad Bulani, a Shia, is the new interior minister and Abdul Qadir Obeidi, a Sunni, the defence minister. Shirwan Waili has also been approved as minister of national security. For the first time since the parliamentary elections in December 2005, Iraq now has a complete government.
- The UN has sharply criticised the Iraqi government's human rights record,
in the two months since a security plan was launched in Baghdad. The UN mission
for Iraq said Iraqi authorities had failed to guarantee the basic rights of
about 3,000 people they had detained in the operations. The report said four
million Iraqis were at risk because of lack of food. A statement from the
office of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki dismissed the report as lacking
credibility.
- To quell the Sunni insurgency and create an image of gradual progress, the
US has insisted provincial elections be held in Iraq this October, one month
before the American elections. The expectation on March 29, 2008, is that
disenfranchised groups who boycotted the 2005 elections will gain significant
representation in the Iraqi parliament, a prospect that threatens the sectarian
coalition of Shia and Kurdish parties now controlling the regime. The Shia
bloc includes Maliki's Dawa and the former Supreme Command of the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq [SCIRI]. Their rivals are the impoverished Shia followers
of Moqtada al-Sadr of Sadr City and many towns in the South, whose military
forces are known as the Mahdi Army. Maliki agreed to the provincial elections,
it appears, in exchange for Bush's and Petraeus' permission to launch a crushing
offensive against the Sadr forces that have come to power on the streets of
Basra in the wake of Britain's withdrawal. Maliki and his US sponsors call
them "criminal gangs", but it is clear that Maliki's intent is to
weaken or destroy the Sadr forces before the election.
Provincial election, January 31, 2009
Gunmen on Friday January 16, 2009, ambushed a car carrying a leading candidate
in Iraq's provincial elections, killing him and wounding four of his guards.
The candidate, Haitham al-Husseini, belonged to the Dawa party of Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki, which is locked in a pitched electoral battle with another
Shiite party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, for control of Iraq's southern
provinces.
Iraq's electoral commission said on January 18, 2009, it is investigating allegations that nearly 60 candidates for the January 31 provincial elections have submitted fraudulent certificates for their educational degrees. The commission would like the ministries of Education and Higher Education to verify these degrees. The law requires candidates to have certain educational qualifications to run. Voters are set to choose members of ruling councils in 14 of the 18 provinces. More than 14,000 candidates are running for 444 council seats.
Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on Monday January 19, 2009, called on Iraqis to vote in the upcoming provincial elections, stressing that he is not supporting any candidates.
A senior Sunni politician, Hassan Zaidan al-Luhaibi, vice- president of the Sunni National Dialogue bloc, has been killed in a suicide bomb attack in northern Iraq. Mr Luhaibi was leading his party's campaign for provincial elections to be held at the end of this month. The elections -the first for three years- are seen as a key test for the process of national reconciliation.
Over half a million Iraqis are going to the polls in provincial elections on January 27, 2009, three days before most of the rest of the country will be voting. The early ballots are for security forces, prisoners and hospital patients.
On January 31, 2009, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki hailed a largely peaceful vote for new provincial councils across the country as a victory for all Iraqis. Voting was extended by one hour due to a strong turnout, including among Sunni Muslims who boycotted the last polls. The first nationwide vote in four years is seen as a test of stability before a general election due later this year.
Turnout in Saturday January 31, 2009's provincial elections in Iraq was 51%, according to figures from the electoral commission. This was lower than some had predicted, but turnout had increased in some mainly Sunni areas which previously boycotted polls.
The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, made a surprise visit to Iraq on February 6, 2009, to congratulate voters there on the outcome of nationwide local elections. After talks with political leaders in Baghdad, Mr Ban said the vote showed how far Iraq had come. However, he said there was still a long way to go before Iraqis could claim to have "genuine freedom and security".
On February 6, 2009, we were told that a bloc backed by Iraqi Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki wins by a landslide in preliminary provincial election results.
Results showed major gains for the prime minister's State of Law coalition
in Iraq's capital Baghdad and in its second largest city Basra.
Iraq's Supreme Court has decided parliamentary elections will be held in January, we were told Monday May 18, 2009. Iraqi voters last went to the polls earlier this year for provincial elections, in which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition finished on top in nine of the country's 14 provinces. Iraqis last voted for Parliament in December 2005. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has indicated he is not likely to seek re-election when a new parliament is chosen.
Iraq will hold a general election on 30 January next year we were told on
May 19, 2009. It will be the second time that Iraqis vote for a national parliament
since the US-led invasion six years ago.
Iraq's electoral commission on Thursday January 15, 2010, barred 500 candidates from running in March's parliamentary election, including a prominent Sunni lawmaker. The decision to bar the candidates -most of who are believed to be Sunni- potentially threatens the country's fragile security because it risks leaving Sunni voters feeling targeted and disenfranchised. The candidates have three days to appeal.
Iraq's independent elections commission announced Thursday February 4, 2010, that the parliamentary elections campaign, scheduled to start Sunday, would be postponed for five days, as confusion reigned over an appeals court decision that overturned a ban on hundreds of candidates.
A leading coalition supported by Sunnis and secularists suspended campaigning Saturday February 13, 2010, and hinted at a possible boycott of next month's elections to protest a decision to uphold a ban on candidates because of their alleged ties to the outlawed Baath Party. The Iraqi National Movement coalition headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced that it would temporarily suspend its campaign. The group called for an urgent meeting of top leaders, a review of the banning process and an emergency session of parliament.
Government rhetoric against Saddam Hussein's Baath party will woo some Iraqi
Shiite voters ahead of an election, but many people feel uneasy about a return
to the sectarian politics that has spilled so much blood we were told on February
15, 2010.
A popular Sunni party announced Saturday February 20, 2010, that it will boycott Iraq's parliamentary elections next month. The decision by the National Dialogue Front to pull out of the March 7 elections could cement views here that Shiite religious parties have rigged the vote against secular and Sunni candidates. Saleh al-Mutlak, who leads the party, was among about 500 candidates disqualified from the elections because of their alleged ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.
Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is defending a decision to ban hundreds of candidates from the upcoming election, saying that it would not hurt Sunni turnout. On February 28, 2010, the decision was made because the candidates were "blatantly propagating Baath Party ideas."
Iraq's top Shiite cleric on Saturday February 27, 2010, ordered his representatives across the country not to campaign for any blocs or candidates contesting the March 7 parliamentary elections, a move designed to assert the Iranian-born cleric's neutrality. al-Sistani wants his representatives to ensure a big turnout for the election for a new, 325-seat legislature.
The voter turnout in Iraq's general elections was 62%, we were told on Monday March 8, 2010, despite attacks that killed 38 people.
Early results-March 12, 2010- from Iraq's election suggest a tight contest may be developing between Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and his main rival Iyad Allawi. Mr Maliki's coalition leads in two Shia provinces south of Baghdad while Mr Allawi's bloc is in the lead in two provinces to the north. Both men were expected to do well in those places and many votes are still to be counted. But there have been complaints about the count and some claims of fraud.
On March 23, 2010, Iraq's two main Shiite political blocs are discussing a merger that could widen Iraq's sectarian divide. A union between Maliki's State of Law and the Iraqi National Alliance whose leaders have close ties to Iran, two of the top three vote-getters in Iraq's March 7 parliamentary election, could sideline secularist former premier Iyad Allawi, whose cross-sectarian Iraqiya coalition won strong support from minority Sunnis. A merger could also push aside Maliki, who wants another term at the helm. One of INA's major components, the Sadrist movement of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, was the top vote-getter for INA and has poor relations with the premier.
Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi began reaching out to other political blocs Saturday March 27, 2010, for allies he needs to form Iraq's next government, while accusing his main rival, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, of manoeuvring to undercut his victory in the March 7 parliamentary elections. Allawi, whose Iraqiya list bested Maliki's State of Law coalition by two seats, 91 to 89, in results announced Friday, faces the greater challenge in putting together a majority. A secular Shiite who won by attracting Sunni Arab and secular voters, Allawi will have to woo other Shiite politicians -some of whom view Maliki as a more palatable, albeit imperfect, option- as well as Kurds. He will also almost certainly have to make overtures to predominantly Shiite Iran, which is more influential in Iraqi politics than the United States.
A government commission sought Monday March 29, 2010, to disqualify six people
who had won seats in Iraq's parliamentary election and 46 other candidates
because of what it called their ties to the banned Baath Party.
The Iraqi political grouping of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr is holding its own
a referendum on who should be the country's prime minister we were told on
April 1, 2010. The bloc Mr Sadr belongs to came third in the election on 7
March. Whoever it backs stands a good chance of leading the next government.
None of the four alliances that won big parliamentary blocs in the vote can
form a government on their own. Since the vote there has been little progress
towards forming a government.
Supporters of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stood in long lines on Friday April 2, 2010, to vote their choice for prime minister of Iraq in a two-day referendum that carried no government sanction or legal weight. The unusual plebiscite organized by Sadr's political movement, which won about 40 seats in a March 7 parliamentary election and stands to play a kingmaker role in the next government, was intended to determine the public favourite for prime minister after squabbling among election winners. The ballot carried five names including current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his top election rival, former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya coalition edged Maliki's State of Law bloc 91 seats to 89 in the election. Neither won enough for a majority in the 325-seat parliament and the tight race foretold weeks or months of potentially divisive negotiations to form a new government.
The Shiite movement led by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on April 7, 2010, it wants former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to return to the job. Al-Sadr's followers voted in favour of Mr. Jaafari during a two-day unofficial referendum organized by the anti-American cleric. The group rejected the top winners of the national election, including former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, whose secular coalition captured just two more seats than incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Shiite-led bloc. Mr. Jaafari won 24 percent of the referendum vote with more than 1 million ballots cast last Friday and Saturday.
Anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr offered to help the Iraqi government maintain security after bomb attacks against Shiites killed 56 people in Baghdad in an apparent backlash by Sunni insurgents. Sadr's offer of the use of his paramilitary Mehdi Army Friday April 23, 2010.
Iraq's state election commission said Thursday April 29, 2010, that it could take up to three weeks to complete a partial recount of votes from last month's parliamentary election. As a result it is very unlikely that a new government will be seated by the end of August, when the remaining American combat troops are scheduled to withdraw from the country.
Iraq's prime minister on Friday April 30, 2010, criticized his main rival in last month's inconclusive election for wanting outside intervention, and denounced what he said was the foreign powers' desire to stage a ballot box coup. Nuri al-Maliki's angry words added to a political crisis stirred up by attempts by Shi'te-led groups, including the premier's bloc, to overturn a slim lead in a March 7 vote posted by a cross-sectarian alliance that won strong Sunni support. The Sunni-backed list led by secular ex-premier Iyad Allawi called this week for an internationally monitored caretaker government after its two-seat election lead was threatened by a recount of votes in Baghdad and a bid to disqualify candidates.
Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari wants stronger American and British
help in resolving Iraq's election dispute and is accusing the U.S. of caring
more about sending its troops home. His remarks were published Saturday May
1, 2010, in the Saudi-owned, London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. He said
U.S. and British officials should be more aggressive in pushing rival political
coalitions in Iraq's bitter election dispute work toward a compromise.
On Monday July 19, 2010, the anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr met with Iyad Allawi, who is vying to become Iraq's next prime minister after his coalition narrowly won parliamentary elections in March. It might seem like a minor development in the endless political jockeying over forming a stable government in Iraq. But, in fact, this meeting was a victory for Iran and another setback for the United States
Iraqi politicians are still fighting over who should become prime minister because of unclear results in the March elections and there is speculation that insurgents are taking advantage of the discord. Some have blamed the recent wave of violence on the political impasse in Iraq's Parliament. On Monday August 2, 2010, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sought to avoid public criticism, saying in a televised interview that he will not seek a second term if another candidate is agreed upon.
President Barack Obama has sent a letter to Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urging him to persuade the country's squabbling political leaders to form a new government we were told on Friday August 6, 2010. The political impasse in Iraq comes as US forces are drawing down their numbers to 50,000 troops by the end of the month despite simmering political violence. Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's party edged out a coalition led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in March parliamentary elections, but neither won a majority and negotiations on a new government have stalled.
The fortunes of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki received a boost Sunday August
8, 2010, from the powerful Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, who called him
a "dear brother and ally" at a joint news conference in Irbil, capital
of the Kurdistan region. Though Barzani stopped short of throwing Kurdish
support behind Maliki, it was the first time a leading politician outside
Maliki's bloc had endorsed the prime minister's bid to hold on to his job.
Maliki returned the favour by pledging to support a cause central to Kurdish
concerns: the implementation of a constitutional clause that Kurds hope will
lead to the incorporation of the disputed city of Kirkuk into Kurdistan. Collectively,
Kurds won 57 of the 325 seats in parliament, putting them a distant fourth
among political coalitions. But their votes could be crucial in determining
the outcome of the finely balanced contest to lead the next government. Maliki's
efforts have been blocked by Shiite Muslim opposition to his candidacy. The
bloc headed by his chief rival, Allawi, won the most seats, 91 compared with
89 for Maliki's group, but Allawi has also failed to secure any support for
his bid to be prime minister, leaving the process deadlocked.
Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, may be exerting his influence with squabbling politicians to speed up the formation of a new government we were told on Wednesday August 18, 2010. Iraqis are facing uncertainty stemming from a five-month deadlock over the formation of a new government and a renewal in violence as the U.S. completes the pullout of its combat forces from Iraq this month. Sistani, revered by the Shiite community in Iraq, has said in the past all political groups should be included in the government in order to give Iraq stability. Sistani believes that when the government is finally formed Sunnis, Shia and Kurds will be in that government together.
A powerful Iranian-backed Shiite bloc put forward its own candidate for prime minister Friday September 3, 2010, further complicating Iraq's fractured political scene as the country stumbled into month six without a new government. The Iraqi National Alliance, a wide-ranging Shiite religious alliance, added a third man to the political wrangling on Friday by naming Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Iraq's Shiite vice president, their candidate for the job.
Iraq's Shiite-led blocs on Tuesday September 21, 2010, gave themselves five days to pick a single candidate for prime minister, and one politician said the incumbent, Nuri al-Maliki, was in a strong position to gain a second term.
The Iraqi bloc that eked out a victory in the March 7 national election said on September 24, 2010, it won't participate in any government headed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Al-Iraqiya is the largely secular and cross-sectarian bloc headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. The pronouncement highlights a failure to form an Iraqi government, and Iraqi officials fear that insurgents would take advantage of the political vacuum by trying to reignite the Sunni-Shiite sectarian bloodshed that gripped Iraq for years. The group said al-Maliki has been attempting to undermine al-Iraqiya. Al-Iraqiya won 91 seats in March, beating out al-Maliki's State of Law Alliance by two votes. To form a government, a 163-seat majority of 325 seats in parliament is needed, but neither bloc has been able to form a governing coalition. Al-Iraqiya has gotten Sunni Arab support, and al-Maliki's coalition draws backing from Shiites. Both have had contact with the Iraqi National Alliance -also a strong Shiite movement. A bloc made up of that group and al-Maliki's State of Law Alliance has recently emerged, but al-Iraqiya also rejects that entity, called the National Alliance.
Iraq's Shiite Muslim political leaders ended a special conclave Monday September 27, 2010, without reaching consensus on a candidate for prime minister, the latest setback in a marathon to form a new government here that began after inconclusive March polls. A committee of 14 leaders from the electoral blocs headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Shiite rivals gave itself until Monday to agree on a single candidate. These officials now say that without a consensus candidate, the committee will vote on the two leading candidates for the job, Mr. Maliki and Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi. It is unclear when the group will vote or how binding the vote will be. Choosing a prospective prime minister is just one hurdle for the Shiite grouping, a loose affiliation between Mr. Maliki and a slate of rival Shiite politicians who have tentatively agreed to join forces with him in the next government. The umbrella group is still three seats shy of the majority in parliament needed to form a government. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite who leads a slate including many prominent Sunnis, edged out Mr. Maliki in the March polls. But he has also been unsuccessful so far in assembling coalition partners to form a government. Mr. Allawi issued a statement over the weekend describing the current Shiite talks as a "desperate attempt to entrench sectarian politics."
On October 1, 2010, after nearly seven months of deadlock, Iraq's prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, took a decisive step toward winning a second term, gaining the endorsement of a Shiite bloc that had until recently opposed returning him to power. Mr. Maliki's party, State of Law, and another Shiite party with ties to the cleric Moktada al-Sadr shut out a third, the Iraqi National Alliance, and its contender, Adel Abdelmehdi, in negotiations within the Shiite bloc, alliance. State of Law, the Sadrists and their allies command 148 seats in Parliament and need another 15 to win a majority and establish a new government. That support is expected to come from the Kurds. If the move were to succeed, Mr. Maliki would win a decisive victory over another former prime minister, Ayad Allawi, and his alliance, Iraqiya. Mr. Allawi's slate had won 91 seats in the aftermath of the election, giving him a slight edge over State of Law's 89.
Iraq's Supreme Court on Sunday October 24, 2010, ordered parliament members to meet, calling the government formation impasse that has dragged on for more than seven months unconstitutional. The ruling could add a sense of urgency to negotiations among political factions, because the court set a two-week deadline to resume parliamentary sessions. But the move is unlikely to force parliament members to resume legislating because many intend to boycott sessions until bitterly divided political factions agree on a ruling coalition. The court's ruling has the potential to deepen the political crisis here if the Iraqiya bloc, which won the most seats in the March 7 vote, refuses to attend sessions, leaving its largely Sunni constituency feeling disenfranchised.
Saudi Arabia has offered its services once again as a regional power broker in the Middle East, this time telling Iraqis it would like to help them break a political impasse that has left their country without a functioning government for nearly eight months. On October 31, 2010, King Abdullah invited leaders of the different Iraqi blocs to meet in Riyadh after the Hajj religious pilgrimage to the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina that ends in the second half of November. However the initiative by Saudi King Abdullah to resolve the political impasse in Iraq met a cool response from politicians in the country but Gulf States backed the move as a step towards Iraqi reconciliation.
On November 1, 2010, Iraq's Shiite alliance has turned down an offer extended by Saudi Arabia to host an all-party talks involving Iraqi political leaders for ending the months-long political deadlock that has prevented formation of a coalition government in that war-ravaged country after the indecisive March elections. The National Alliance, a coalition of the Shiite-led political blocs in Iraq, said they were rejecting the Saudi offer as a deal that would lead to the formation of a coalition government appeared to be imminent after the country's highest court ordered Parliament to resume sessions last week.
On November 11, 2010, Barack Obama will make a personal plea to Ayad Allawi to join a coalition government with his rival Nouri al-Maliki in a deal designed to end eight months of political deadlock in Iraq. Although Allawi is expected to let his followers take up positions in the new administration, his rejection of post would be a vote of no confidence in a deal described by the US as "a big step forward for Iraq".
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated Jalal Talabani on his re-election as Iraqi president after the Iraqi Parliament on Thursday November 11, 2010, re-elected Talibani, a Kurd, as president. Ahmadinejad also expressed hope that all parties and factions in Iraq would help improve situation in Iraq through their unity. Talabani, for his part, thanked Iran for its help in establishing security in Iraq, saying the new deal for formation of government was the result of Iraqis' national resolve
Iraq finally has a coalition government. It has come about as a result of months of deadlock following the inconclusive parliamentary elections of March this year. However, it is very fragile and cannot be expected to have the necessary cohesion and capacity to put Iraq on a stable path of change and development, especially after the US troop withdrawal by the end of 2011. The coalition has emerged after months of backdoor incriminatory negotiations and dealings between various political groups, with more Iranian than American influence at work. It essentially provides for a consociation model of governance similar to what is in operation in Lebanon. Under this model, Nouri al-Maliki retains his position as prime minister and head of a National Alliance of Shiite groups, which claim to represent Iraq's Shiite majority, and Jalal Talibani continues as president and the head of the Kurdish alliance (Monday November 15, 2010).
Iraqi politicians began horse-trading on Sunday November 21, 2010, over the formation of a cabinet, but hopes for a quick resolution were dampened on news Nuri al-Maliki would not be named premier-designate for several days. The talks came after a power-sharing pact between Iraq's divided political factions put an end to months of impasse in which it shattered the world record for the longest period without a new government following elections. The National Alliance, the pan-Shiite grouping of which State of Law is the largest component, had formed a committee to consider which cabinet posts it wanted, and to hold talks with other parties. Newly re-elected President Jalal Talabani was not expected to officially ask Maliki to form a cabinet until Thursday, a parliamentary official said, so as to give the incumbent prime minister more time to negotiate ministerial posts. Under Iraq's constitution, Talabani has 15 days to appoint a prime minister following his selection by MPs on November 11. He had earlier been expected to name Maliki as premier on Sunday. Once selected, Maliki would have 30 days to form a government.
Iraq's president formally nominated Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a second term
as the country's prime minister on Thursday November 25, 2010, giving him
30 days to cobble together a government from competing factions that remain
deeply divided and suspicious of his return to power. President Jalal Talabani
first nominated Mr. Maliki when Iraq's new Parliament met in a stormy session
two weeks ago. But he delayed the formal designation required by the country's
Constitution until Thursday to give Mr. Maliki the maximum amount of time
to negotiate the competing demands of parliamentary blocs that covet leadership
posts.
Iraq's shaky power-sharing government suffered another setback on Thursday
March 3, 2011, when former Prime Minister Allawi rejected a high-ranking advisory
job that had been created to end the country's protracted political deadlock.
The decision by Mr. Allawi, who leads a political coalition backed by much
of Iraq's Sunni minority, exposed new fissures in a coalition government forged
with American backing late last year. But in recent days, Mr. Allawi and members
of his coalition, Iraqiya, have accused Prime Minister Maliki of failing to
follow through on his promises to share power, deepening a sense of their
marginalization.