In an unprecedented move, leaders of the main Sunni group in Iraq, the Arab Iraqi Accordance Front, made a trip to the Kurdish region in the north of the country on Monday paving the way for a coalition government. There the group struck an agreement with Kurdistan regional President Massoud Barzani for possible cooperation.
The move, however, angered many minority parties and secular groups.
Saleh Al Mutlaq, head of the Sunni Arab National Dialogue Front, told the AP, “We were shocked today when we heard that our brothers, who signed agreements with us yesterday to discuss just the fraudulent elections with the Kurdish leaders, instead were discussing forming a national unity government.”
“This act definitely weakens and distract our claims about the fraudulent results,” Al Mutlaq added.
“I believe they are capable of making a deal with the devil himself so that they can be represented widely in the coming government.”
Many Sunni and opposition parties in Iraq, including one headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, are awaiting international monitors to examine some 1,500 complaints of voter fraud. Representatives of the United Nations, however, have called the vote credible.
President Jalal Talabani assured Prime Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari that his fellow Kurds would not object if the United Iraqi again nominates him for the prime minister post as part of a bargain.
“We pray to God to help so that this country may get out of this trial and that it regain stability, security and peace,” said Tarek Al Hashimi, an Accordance Front leader who also leads the Iraqi Islamic Party.
Another Accordance Front leader, Adnan Al Dulaimi, added that “there is an agreement to form a balanced Iraqi government by consensus and cooperation and away from any sectarian affairs.”
Final results for the controversial Iraqi election are expected as early as this week, with the Shiite religious bloc possibly winning some 130 seats. Without 184 seats, however, the group will need to form a coalition to elect a president.
Kurdish group anticipate some 55 seats, and the main Sunni Arab groups about 50. Allawi secular’s bloc could receive about 25.
