Iraq government to be formed soon.

There are signs that factions in Iraq may finally be able to form a new government more than six months after elections!

The deal would involve the Iraqiya group of Allawi that won the most seats the INA which includes Al Sadr and the Kurdistan Allliance. The prime minister would be current vice president Adel Abdulmahdi a member of the Iraq National Alliance and also lead of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. The SIIC lost many seats while supporters of Al Sadr gained and took over leadership of the group. Ayad Allawi would become president. The Kurdistan Alliance would get the chairmanship of the parliament.

Many analysts thought the the INA which is Shia would form a coalition with the other main Shia group State of Law. However Al Sadr has an intense dislike for Al Maliki the head of the group and did not want him to stay as prime minister. This seems to be one main reason talks were not successful--at least so far! Abdulmahdi seems to be an acceptable candidate even though he has a bizarre history. He is an economist but at one time led the Iraqi Communist Party. However he switched to being an outspoken Islamist and joined the SIIC. He previously was finance minister in an earlier Allawi government.

Although it seems that Iraq may now be able to form a stable government only time will tell for sure since there have been a number of attempts that have fallen through at the last minute. This coalition has the advantage that it would serve to bring Sunnis into the government more than would a coalition between the INA and State of Law the Maliki group.