Iraq's parliament adjourns session over prime minister deadlock

Iraq Parliament Speaker Salim Jabouri yesterday postponed the parliament’s sixth session until tomorrow after the failure to agree on naming a new candidate for the position of prime minister, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news agency reported.

MP Ahmed Al-Obeidi told the news agency that “the parliament’s session which was attended by the majority of MPs was intended to name a new prime minister, but the [National Iraqi] Alliance formally requested to postpone the nomination to another date after less than two hours.”

Al-Obeidi pointed out that “the alliance members are divided on naming a new candidate for the prime minister’s post therefore they requested a delay in the nominations prompting the parliament speaker to adjourn the session until Thursday hoping the alliance can agree on a new candidate.

“The parliament discussed the formation of a parliamentary committee to discuss adopting the current year’s budget, which the previous parliament has failed to approve.”

He said he was not optimistic about resolving the issue regarding naming a new candidate for prime minister in the next couple of days because the alliance’s 93 MPs are “deeply divided over Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s insistence to run for a third term”.

A source from the Citizen’s bloc, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “The highest religious Shia authority Ali Al-Sistani refused yesterday to receive a government delegation to discuss his absolute opposition of Al-Maliki’s return for a third term.”

The source told Al-Araby that “Al-Sistani believes that Al-Maliki represents a serious challenge to Shia unity and an example of monopolising power and an offense to the Shia religious parties as a whole.”

According to the source, Al-Sistani informed the delegation through his representative Mr Safi Al-Najafi that “he absolutely refuses to talk in any way about Al-Maliki’s return to power”.

Further, the source pointed out that parliament speaker Jabouri informed the alliance’s leaders that he would resign if they attempted to impose Al-Maliki as prime minister.