Al-Arabiya TV – July 9, 2010 – Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi underscored Iraqiya’s right to the premiership and said: This issue is nonnegotiable due to its legality. Therefore, after solving this issue, the remaining government posts are up to dialogue.
Answering a question regarding his opinion on Maliki welcoming Ayad Allawi’s premiership in his interview with Al-Arabiya TV, al-Hashemi said:  This is a positive turn of events that we have been awaiting for a long time. I hope this issue will put an end to disputes regarding Iraqiya’s right as the winning slate to form the new government. I hope this responsible stance will lead to a positive reply regarding a suggestion Iraqiya presented a few days ago. As I said, I hope it brings an end to this issue and all coalitions begin to cooperate with Iraqiya to form the next government.
Al-Arabiya: In your opinion, will Nouri Maliki’s stance lead to the resolution of this crisis?
Tariq al-Hashemi: Naturally, I believe the main problem from the beginning was the formal recognition of Iraqiya’s victory and its legal and electoral right to form government. And if other coalitions finally come to recognize this right, I believe Iraq will put behind this “narrow passage” and the path to the formation of a national unity government will be paved.