Bloomberg, April 5, 2010 — Officials from two of Iraq’s main political parties met in Iran recently to “hammer out” a way to form a government following indecisive parliamentary elections last month, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq said.
Representatives of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite State of Law group met with representatives of Moqtada al-Sadr’s political group while attending a spring celebration called Nowruz, Ambassador Christopher Hill said in Doha today.
“The Iraqi people expect their politicians to work these things out in Iraq and I think the politicians have gotten the message,” Hill said to reporters. “You have not seen any announcement as a result of the meetings in Iran.”
Iraq’s former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, whose party won the most seats in the March 7 elections, said April 1 that Iran is trying to exclude him from power and risks a “serious backlash” that could rekindle violence. Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc is trying to form a coalition government after it won two seats more than Maliki’s State of Law party, its main rival.
Ayad Allawi’s party won 91 seats, al-Maliki’s 89 seats, and Shiite cleric Ammar al-Hakim’s Iraqi National Alliance came in third with 70. Two Kurdish parties came in fourth with 43 seats and al-Sadr’s won 40. A 163 seat majority is needed to form a government.
Hill’s comments came a day after suicide attackers detonated three car bombs near embassies in Baghdad. The attacks killed at least 35 people and wounded 200, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Those behind the bombings comprise a “very small” group with “no element of support” from the Iraqi people, Hill said.
Iraq is rebuilding following the 2003 U.S. invasion of the country and sectarian violence that followed. The country, which holds the world’s third-largest oil reserves, has invited foreign companies in to develop its petroleum resources.
Iraq will be able to pump 10 million barrels a day in 5 to 10 years, giving it “considerable economic clout” in the region, Hill said.