Iraq fails to break deadlock

Iraqi lawmakers postponed their efforts to reach agreement on the positions of prime minister, president and parliamentary speaker after a session lasting just 30 minutes on Sunday.

Acting parliament speaker Mahdi al-Mafidh said that "no type of agreement was reached ... between the various blocs," and the session was adjourned to Tuesday.

The deadlock arose despite Saturday's agreement by Sunni Arab politicians to nominate Salim al-Jubouri as their candidate for speaker. The post is traditionally filled by a Sunni and must be assigned before a government can be formed. Under an unofficial agreement, the posts of speaker, president and prime minister are allotted, respectively, to a Sunni, Kurd and Shiite.

Al-Mafidh rejected a proposed vote on Jubouri, saying not all blocs - Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds - were in agreement, although enough parliamentarians were present for a valid ballot.

Prolonged stalemate

The parliament has repeatedly failed to make progress on the appointments, despite pressure from the international community and the United Nations to overcome divisions and form a new government that can unite the country in the face of a major insurgency.

The UN's Iraq envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, has warned that "failing to move forward on electing a new speaker, a new president and a new government risks plunging the country into chaos."

The powerful post of prime minister is likely to prove the most difficult to fill. Incumbent Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, is seeking a third term, but is under pressure to step aside because of what critics see as his government's inability to bring the country together and combat the militant offensive. He has also been accused by Sunnis and Kurds of favoring the Shiite majority to the detriment of minority communities.

Maliki's State of Law bloc captured the most seats in April elections, though it did not attain a majority.

Divisive insurgency

As the political squabbles continue, militants have launched a renewed offensive, capturing two towns just northeast of the capital, Baghdad, on Sunday.

In a two-day blitz last month, insurgents led by the al Qaeda offshoot Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant captured large swaths of territory in northern provinces, and have also consolidated their foothold in the west of the country, where they have been fighting since the start of the year.

The insurgency has raised the specter of an Iraq divided on ethnic and sectarian lines.

tj/mkg (AP, Reuters, AFP)