3/29/2005 2:30:00 PM GMT
Iraq's parliament was in an uproar at only its second sitting on Tuesday and journalists were thrown out after lawmakers berated leaders for failing to agree on a new government, two months after the elections took place.
When parliamentarians were told that despite last-minute talks which caused the session to be delayed and that no agreement had been reached, even on the post of parliamentary speaker, several stood up to say leading politicians were letting down the Iraqi people.
"The Iraqi people who defied the security threats and voted -- what shall we tell them? What is the reason for this delay?" Hussein al-Sadr, a politician in the bloc led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, asked the assembly before the news blackout.
As the meeting grew heated, the interim speaker ordered journalists to leave and Iraqi television abruptly switched to Arab music.
Ayad Allawi walked out of the session shortly afterwards.
Two months after millions of Iraqis voted in the January 30 polls, many are increasingly angry that despite intensive haggling no agreement has been reached on forming a government.
The mainly Shi'ite Islamist alliance which holds just over half the seats and the Kurdish coalition that came second in the polls have been at loggerheads for weeks on the composition of a cabinet.
Furthermore, there have been attempts to involve the Sunni Arabs to contend with as well.
But no deal has been reached, and several government officials say the delay has stalled key projects, deepened chaos and hampered efforts to set up government.
Latest impasse
Tuesday's stalemate was prompted by the failure of Iraq's competing blocs to agree on a parliamentary speaker, with officials saying that parliament would meet again in an attempt to try to forge a deal.
The Shi'ite Islamist alliance and the Kurdish coalition have agreed that the speaker should be a Sunni Arab, to get the Sunni minority more involved in the country's politics.
Most of the 17 Sunni Arabs in the 275-member parliament favor Adnan al-Janabi as their candidate, but he is an ally of Allawi, who has so far declined to join the government, saying his bloc will move into opposition.
Meanwhile, the Shi'ite alliance is backing Fawaz al-Jarba, a Sunni who joined the mainly Shi'ite alliance. But other Sunnis are against this, as he is seen as too close to the Shi'ite alliance, Sunni parliamentarian Meshaan Jibouri said.
"This is the fault of the Shi'ites and the Kurds who failed to bring Allawi into the government," Jibouri told reporters.
He said that if Jarba was pushed through as speaker, something which the Shiites can do with their parliamentary majority, other Sunni Arabs would walk out of parliament, leaving attempts to draw them into politics in tatters.
Once a speaker is agreed, the National Assembly's next task will be to elect a president and two vice presidents. A two-thirds majority is needed for that, which will mean the Shi'ites and Kurds must reach a deal to muster enough votes.
The presidential triumvirate will then have two weeks to choose a prime minister, who will then appoint a cabinet.
The Shi'ites and Kurds have broad agreement that Shi'ite Ibrahim Jaafari will be the next prime minister with veteran Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani taking the presidential post.
While the posts for the two vice presidents seats are expected to be interim Finance Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shi'ite, and the Sunni Arab Yawar.
But officials have not agreed on the distribution of cabinet posts. The Kurds are expected to retain the foreign ministry, with the defense ministry going to a Sunni Arab. But the key oil ministry is a source of disagreement - a position which the Kurds covet but the Shi'ite alliance insists they should get.
There has also been talk of their being disagreements within the Shi'ite alliance, with some members voicing doubts about Jaafari.