The latest setback came after Kurdish politicians reportedly insisted on amending a deal they struck last week with the Shi'ite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance. They agreed, however, to go ahead with a ceremony on Wednesday swearing in the 275-seat National Assembly elected Jan. 30.
But the deputies failed to set a date to reconvene, did not elect a speaker, or nominate a president and vice president -- all of which they had hoped to do their first day. Instead, the session was spent reveling in the seating of Iraq's first democratic legislature in a half century.
The failure to appoint top officials stemmed from the inability of Shi'ites, Kurds, and Sunni Arabs to agree on a speaker for the new legislature, disagreement over the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, and renewed haggling over Cabinet posts. The interim constitution sets no time limit for forming a government after the National Assembly convenes.
''We will be seeing a government formed next week," predicted Haitham al-Husseiny, who heads the office of Shi'ite alliance leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, but he would not give a firm date.
Azad Jundiyan, a spokesman for Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said he thought the government will be named after Kurds celebrate Norwuz, their new year, on March 26.
''This procrastination in forming the government frustrates us and does not make us optimistic," said Qaiss Mosa of Baghdad. ''Iraqis were hoping to see a national government." Most of the disagreement focused on whether to allow the Kurds' peshmerga militia to remain in Kurdistan as part of the Iraqi police and army, along with setting a timetable for Kurds to assume control of Kirkuk and permit the speedy return of nearly 100,000 refugees.
