Biden, Al-Nujayfi call for new government capable of uniting Iraq

US Vice President Joe Biden and Iraq’s former Parliament Speaker Usama Al-Nujayfi have called on the need to form a new government capable of uniting Iraq and fighting threats from ISIS, a White House statement said.

The statement said that Biden spoke with Al-Nujayfi over the phone to express Washington’s support for Iraq in its war against ISIS and for Iraqis affected by this crisis.

Sunni groups, led by ISIS, seized control on June 10 of large areas of northern and western provinces in Iraq and areas in the north and east of Syria.

While Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki describes these groups as extremist terrorists, Sunni figures say that what is happening is “a Sunni revolt against Maliki’s unjust and sectarian Shia government”.

Iraq’s parliament held its first session yesterday with the attendance of 255 of the 328 members of parliament (MPs), achieving the quorum of 163 MPs before the two major Sunni blocs; the Kurdish and Arab, withdraw from the session leading to the adjournment of the meeting to next Tuesday. The session was scheduled to elect the parliament speaker and his two deputies.

The three major Shia parties won the majority of seats in Iraq’s parliamentary elections on April 30. The State of Law Coalition, led by Al-Maliki, won 96 seats; Muqtada Al-Sadr’s Liberal bloc won 34 seats, while the Citizen Coalition, led by Ammar Al-Hakim, won 29 seats. The Sunni United Coalition, led by Al-Nujayfi won 23 seats, and the Arab bloc, led by Saleh Al-Mutlaq, won nine seats.

According to the Iraqi constitution, the President of the Republic invites the new parliament to convene within 15 days of ratifying the election results by the Supreme Court. The MPs are then granted 15 days to elect a parliament speaker and 30 days to elect a new president who has 15 days to ask the largest parliamentary bloc to form a government and choose a prime minister.

Sunni and Shia parliamentary blocs refuse to have Al-Maliki declared prime minister for a third term.

According to the division of positions adopted in 2003, the position of prime minister is reserved for a Shia member of parliament; the position of parliament speaker is reserved for Sunnis while the position of president is reserved for Kurds.