BAGHDAD (AP) – The former Iraqi prime minister whose electoral bloc was the top-vote getter in parliamentary elections has met with Iraq’s Kurdish president in an effort to shore up Kurdish support he would need to form a government.

Ayad Allawi said the meeting Wednesday was also designed to reduce tensions amid what has been a controversy-filled postelection period.

The former prime minister, whose coalition won 91 seats in the March 7 election, says he is also sending envoys to neighboring countries to deliver his party’s message about its ideas for a future government.

Allawi also says his bloc has the right to form a governing coalition under the constitution.