BAGHDAD // Iraq's parliament is due to meet today for the first time since the disputed March elections, with politicians yet to agree on a new government and with the country suffering a recent surge of violence, including an audacious assault on the heavily defended central bank yesterday.
At least 15 people were killed and 22 wounded in the attack, which involved a series of bomb blasts followed by rooftop gun battles inside the bank compound between the assailants and security forces. The Iraqi authorities said it was unclear if the raid was an attempted robbery or an effort by insurgents to demolish buildings and kill bank employees. The siege began shortly before 3pm, as workers were beginning to leave their offices, with fighting apparently still underway hours later, gunfire still sounding across the city and the area around the bank sealed off by government troops. Most of the casualties were reportedly bank staff.
Coming less than 24 hours ahead of today's parliamentary meeting, the attack served as a bloody reminder that security in Iraq remains fragile, even in the capital, which is defended by thousands of soldiers, police and the intelligence services. Although violence is down from its peak four years ago, it has risen since the March 7 ballot. According to government figures 337 people were killed nationwide in unrest during May, the fourth month this year in which casualty rates have exceeded their 2009 level.
Today's parliamentary session, ordered last week by President Jalal Talabani following the delayed confirmation of national election results, is likely to be dominated by routine procedural motions. Those who won seats in the council of representatives said they expected no immediate progress on key decisions such as selection of a parliamentary speaker. Iraq's principle political blocs remain deadlocked, still disputing the basic issue of which party should form the next government. No group achieved an outright majority, necessitating complex cross-party coalition building.
The secular Iraqiyya list, led by Ayad Allawi, narrowly won the most parliamentary seats and insists it retains the constitutional right to form the government. The State of Law alliance, headed by the incumbent prime minister, Nouri al Maliki, came in second place but says it should form the government, having agreed a post-election coalition with another major sectarian Shiite bloc. Together the two Shiite groups, now combined as the National Alliance (NA), command 159 seats, just four short of a working majority in the 325-member parliament. Despite uniting however, the Shiite groups in the NA have failed to resolve who should be selected as their candidate for prime minister. Mr Maliki's supporters - and Mr Maliki - are adamant he get the job while the powerful Sadr bloc and influential Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) have been opposed.
The divisions, which have left Iraq with no clear political direction for the last three months and fuelled fears of a security vacuum, make it impossible to know when a government will be formed. Some of Mr Maliki's supporters suggest it will take little more than a month for him to seal the deal. Others, including international diplomats, continue to warn that fundamental differences mean a drawn out process is more likely.
"I believe the big blocs [the NA] are going to create the next government and the other parties are going to have to accept that," said Wail Abdul Latif, of the National Alliance. He predicted it would take two months at most for the matter to be resolved. On that schedule, the new government would be in place before the Ramadan holiday and, perhaps crucially, before US troop numbers are cut back to 50,000, due to take place by September.
Satah al Sheikh, an MP with Iraqiyya, said the government should be formed as soon as possible but warned the process would extend for "months" because "many problems" remained. "It is Iraqiyya's right to create the government because we won the election, but we have yet to conclude our meetings with the various other parties, it will take time for us to forge an agreement," he said. Those three posts make up the main centre of power in Iraq's system of governance. Mr Allawi and Mr Maliki, the two major claimants for the post of prime minister, held their first face-to-face meeting on Saturday.
In advance of today's parliamentary opening, Sadrist MPs said they would boycott the session if US ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill, were in attendance. He has been adamant that Washington has not been inappropriately involved in discussions over formation of the next Iraqi government, but suggestions of meddling persist, particularly in the anti-US Sadr movement. "We will not attend the parliament if the American officials attend," said Zeynab al Kenarni, a Sadrist MP. "The goal is to eliminate the occupation of Iraq and if the US ambassador is at the parliament it will be as if Iraq is under US control."
* Phil Sands contributed to this report from Damascus nlatif@thenational.ae psands@thenational.ae