Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat-The Sadrist Trend, which is the main component of the Iraqi National Alliance, led by Ammar al-Hakim, continues to underline the need for sitting on the negotiation table. Sheikh Salah al-Ubaydi, spokesman for the Al-Sadr Trend, said that “the trend continues to ask all the winning parties to sit on a roundtable to reach a solution to the crisis of forming the next government.”

On whether the expected alliance between the State of Law Coalition, led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and the Iraqi National Alliance would lead to the exclusion of the Al-Iraqiya Bloc, led by Iyad Allawi, from the next government, Al-Ubaydi told Asharq Al-Awsat that any alliance between the two coalitions “does not mean abandoning the roundtable for forming the government and choosing the candidate for the post of the next prime minister,” adding: “We have sent reassurance messages to all parties, which say that any alliance of this kind does not mean excluding or marginalizing others.” He emphasized that “one of the most important points which we emphasized is to avoid and not to repeat the mistakes of the previous experience, particularly since the concern of the Iraqi street focuses on the need for stabilizing the security situation and also improving the living condition. Therefore, the negative phenomena that prevented the implementation of these positive points should be overcome, in addition to our demand that there should be no partisan appeasement , particularly concerning the issue of financial and administrative corruption even if the accused is a leader or affiliated to this of that party.” He emphasized: “We want a real partnership government and not a government that is concerned with the interests of one party as happened in the past.”

In a statement by Al-Ubaydi the day before yesterday, the Al-Sadr Trend denied the reports that said trend’s leader Muqtada al-Sadr has sent a message to the Iraqi National Alliance in which he reiterated his rejection for the nomination of any figure from the trend or the Islamic Al-Dawa Party, led by Al-Maliki to occupy the post of prime minister. The trend emphasized that it is waiting for its leader’s stand on a merger between the two coalitions.”

Within the framework of the Kurdish reaction to the recent statements made by President Jalal Talabani, in which he asked the State of Law Coalition and the Iraqi National Alliance to expedite declaring their alliance and emphasized the support of the Kurdistan Alliance for the nominee of the two blocs to the post of prime minister, Muhsin al-Sadun, member of the Kurdistan Alliance, told Asharq Al-Awsat that if the two coalitions form an alliance, they “would build the largest bloc at parliament and their seats may reach more than 163.” He emphasized, however, that “the Kurdistan Alliance, and through its official talks that will begin after two days, will decide its position on whether to join the alliance with the two coalitions or not.” He pointed out that “the Kurdistan Alliance was part of a coalition with the two blocs during the previous stage of the government, something to which we stick, but in the next stage of dialogues, we will emphasize the content of the government’s program for the next prime minister, which would be important to us, during the official talks that will take place in Baghdad.”

For his part, Salman al-Jamili, one of the leaders of the Al-Iraqiya Bloc, said that building alliances is something available to all lists during the stage of forming the next government. On whether Al-Iraqiyah seeks to build a parliamentary alliance similar to the one that would be formed by the two coalitions (the State of Law Coalition and the Iraqi National Alliance) Al-Jamili told Asharq Al-Awsat that “we have dialogues with all parties and seek to form a parliamentary alliance through which we can ensure a majority at parliament, and we are working in this direct ion.” He added: “If we fail to do so, constitutionally, the president of the republic has the right to assign another personality to form the next government.” He emphasized: “We are able to forge a majority at parliament that qualifies us to choose the next government.”