Publication
7 Jul 2010
Baghdad this month, and likely for several more, is engaged in the political equivalent of Sumo wrestling. After appeals and recounts, the now-certified results of the March elections show the “Iraqiya” slate got 91 seats in parliament; “State of Law” got 89. Each of their heavyweights, former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and current Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki respectively, claims the right to form a government and act as prime minister. The parliament has 325 seats; 163 constitute a majority. In his visit over the July 4 weekend, Vice President Biden tried to referee the match, with the objective of getting the two to stop wrestling and join together to form the new government, a formula Washington prefers.
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English (PDF, 4 pages, 268 KB) |
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Author | Daniel Serwer |
Series | USIP Peace Briefs |
Issue | 40 |
Publisher | United States Institute of Peace (USIP) |
Copyright | © 2010 United States Institute of Peace (USIP) |