SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The meetings of al-Fateh Alliance’s head with Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani were “positive”, a spokesman for State of Law led by Nouri al-Maliki said on Tuesday.
Amiri, who is also a leader in the Coordination Framework, met with Sadr in Najaf and Barzani in Erbil this week.
He discussed the formation of a new Iraqi government with the Shia and Kurdish leaders, according to Iraqi media.
Spokesman of State of Law Baha Nuri told Esta Media Network that Amiri’s meetings aimed to bring the parties together.
“Both visits have had positive results and negotiations will continue,” he said.
Iraqi Shia parties have begun negotiations on the formation of the largest parliamentary bloc and a new government after the federal court ratified the October elections.
On January 9, Sadrist movement, together with Sunni Taqaddum alliance and Kurds, re-elected Mohammed al-Halbousi as parliament speaker opposed by the Iran-aligned camp with a solid majority.
Parliament must in the coming weeks choose the country’s president, who will call on the largest parliamentary alliance to form a government, a process that will be dominated by the Sadrist Movement whoever it chooses to work with.
The Sadrist Movement led by Sadr wants to form a national majority government while other Shia parties, composing the Coordination Framework, prefer a consensus government.
Bangen Rekani, announced the formation of a possible coalition between the Sadrist Movement, KDP, Taqaddum Party led by Halbousi and al-Fateh Alliance.
“Ruling coalition, al-Sadr, al-Barzani, al-Halbousi and al-Amiri,” he said in a tweet.
The minister’s tweet came after Sadr reiterated his attempt to form a “national majority government” which is “neither eastern nor western”.
Shia groups have dominated Iraqi politics since the U.S.-led overthrow of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. They span an array of parties, most with armed wings, but fall broadly now into two camps: those that are pro-Iran and those that oppose Tehran’s influence in Iraq.
The Shia elite have shared control over many ministries, with Iran-aligned groups holding the upper hand until the recent rise of Sadr, the biggest winner in the Oct. 10 election which dealt a crushing blow to the Iran camp.
For the first time post-Saddam, the Iran-aligned groups could see themselves in opposition in parliament.
