UN chief renews calls for a broad based government in Iraq

The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon Saturday reiterated calls to Iraqi leaders to unite and form a “broad based” government in Iraq.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson Saturday evening, the Secretary-General said he “remains deeply concerned about the humanitarian and security situation in Iraq”, stressing that the United Nations and the international community “are observing closely the ongoing political developments in this Arab country”.

The UN chief called upon all Iraqi political parties to “abide by the constitutional timeline that governs the nomination of the prime minister”.

He also called on “reason and wisdom to prevail” and urged them to “quickly form a broad-based government acceptable to all components of Iraqi society”.

The statement said “such a government should be able to mobilize the nation to confront the threat from the Islamic State (IS) in a way that will bring security and stability to the whole country”.

The Iraqi political parties are deeply divided over nominating the next prime minister to succeed Nouri al-Maliki who insists on running for a third term despite the widespread rejection of his nomination by the Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political parties.

The State of Law Coalition led by al-Maliki which won the majority of seats in the latest parliamentary elections insists that it is the only party in parliament which has the right to form the next government headed by al-Maliki.

The Iraqi parliament announced earlier in the day that it had postponed its session scheduled Sunday till Monday to give more time to resolve the prime minister post’s issue.

The three main positions in Iraq are distributed where the prime minister’s post is granted to the Shia, the parliament speaker post is granted to the Sunni and the republic’s presidency is granted to the Kurds.