Disagreement over Maliki role impedes Shiites' merger

[Bumper64]

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Disagreement over a second term for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is snarling merger talks between his coalition and a rival Shiite bloc with close ties to Iran, sources familiar with the talks said on Tuesday.

Maliki's State of Law group is negotiating a possible union with the Iraqi National Alliance, which includes anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, to form the largest bloc in Iraq's next parliament.

An alliance between the two main Shiite groups could push Ayad Allawi's cross-sectarian Iraqiya coalition, the top vote-getter in March 7 elections, to the sidelines. That could anger Sunnis who voted for Allawi.

Sadrist sources say that Maliki, who launched a crackdown on Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in 2008, cannot be the merged bloc's nominee for prime minister.

The secularist Allawi's Iraqiya bloc took 91 seats in the elections, compared with 89 for Maliki's State of Law.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/30/AR2010033003851.html

[LazySusan]

My goodness, Maliki must really hate Allawi!