UPI, Baghdad, June 28, 2010, — The new government that develops in Iraq must represent more than just an agreement among political entities, said former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Allawi led his secular Iraqiya coalition to a narrow victory in March 7 elections. None of the leading parties took the 163-seat majority needed to unilaterally form a new government, however.
Allawi met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in an effort to move the political process forward. For its part, Maliki’s State of Law party joined forces with the Iraqi National Alliance to form a grand Shiite bloc, though negotiations continue over the choice for prime minister.
Allawi in an interview with the Emirati news agency Gulf Times said Iraqi law says his party has the right to form the government as the March 7 victor.
’This is our democratic right,’ he said. ’The other blocs and coalitions have to be convinced that democracy cannot be explained in different forms and is not interpreted haphazardly.’
Despite ongoing deliberations and various power-sharing arrangements, the former interim prime minister said democracy is in the hands of the Iraqi people.
’This government has to be more than just a mere national partnership government, because the Iraqi people are in dire need of clear decisions and solutions on all security, economy, services and foreign policy levels,’ he said.