State of Law: no talks between the Sadrist movement and Coordination Framework in Tehran
Shafaq News/ Leading figure in Nouri Al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition Bahaa el-Din al-Nouri debunked the media reports about the Iranian mediation between the Sadrist movement and the Coordination Framework to ease the tension and converge the views between the two Shiite poles.
"The news about negotiations between the Sadrist movement and the Sadrist movement is unfounded. There are no dialogue or talks outside Iraq," al-Nouri said, "the disagreements between the two poles are internal affairs. Neither Tehran nor any other international actor has something to do with any dialogue between the Framework and the movement."
"Communication channels are here, in Iraq. In the near future, the talks shall be resumed," he said.
Three tense months after legislative elections, Iraq's parliament has finally held its inaugural session, but opening debates swiftly descended into furious arguments between Shiite factions.
In multi-confessional and multi-ethnic Iraq, the formation of governments has involved complex negotiations ever since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
Parliament only met for the first time since the October 10 vote on Sunday, after Iraq's top court rejected a complaint of electoral irregularities filed Hadi al-Ameri's al-Fatah (Conquest) alliance.
Iraq's post-election period has been marred by high tensions, violence and allegations of vote fraud.
One of parliament's first tasks must be to elect the country's president, who will then name a prime minister tasked with forming a new government.
Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, who once led an anti-US militia and who opposes all foreign interference, has repeatedly said that the next prime minister will be chosen by his movement.
It won the largest share with 73 out of the assembly's 329 seats, more than a fifth of the total.
The Coordination Framework claimed they can muster the backing of 88 lawmakers to make them the largest bloc.
In previous parliaments, parties from Iraq's Shiite majority have struck compromise deals to work together and form a government.
The Sadrist movement has been mobilizing impetus behind a "National Majority Government", challenging the status quo "consensus governments", which the forces of the Shiite Coordination Framework have been lobbying for.
al-Sadr has said he will ally himself with whoever puts Iraq's national interests first. That is an indication, Iraqi officials and Western diplomats say, that he may exclude some Iran-backed Shiite blocs in favor of parties with cross-sectarian support.
