The Iraqi parliament will reconvene on 13 July in a bid to end a three-week delay in forming a new government to tackle Sunni militants threatening to break up the country.
Mahma Khalil, a Kurdish member of parliament said on Tuesday that the July date had been set after lawmakers objected to an earlier decision to postpone the meeting until August. The veteran Kurdish politician Barhim Salih is the Kurdish pick for the largely ceremonial post of president, he said by phone.
Shiite lawmaker Hakim Al-Zamili confirmed the date, and said postponing the session sends a bad message to the Iraqi street, by phone from Baghdad.
Parliament broke up earlier this month after failing to end a deadlock over who will lead Iraq following elections in April even as Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) second-biggest oil producer risks descending into sectarian conflict.
Last month, an al-Qaeda breakaway group seized Mosul, Iraq’s biggest northern city, and captured other cities in a rapid offensive. Fighting has continued since then as the Iraqi army seeks to recover territory lost to the guerrillas of the Islamic State, previously know as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose Shiite-led government has been criticized by opponents for marginalizing Sunnis, said 4 July that he won’t withdraw his bid to serve a third term. His stance has contributed to delays in forming a new government, said Khalil.
“The problem is not with the Sunnis or the Kurds, the problem is with the Shiites who can’t decide on the prime minister post,” he said.
Maliki’s State of Law party won the most seats in elections in April while falling short of an outright majority. Bloomberg
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