Allawi meets Syrian President, amid Shiite alliance maneuvering

Sep 29, 2010, 11:56 GMT

Baghdad/Damascus - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met Wednesday in Damascus with Iraqi politician Iyad Allawi - amid reports of a shift in the Iraq Shiite opposition group that could tip the scale in favour of Allawi's political rival for the nomination of the contested prime minister post.

Allawi's meeting in Syria comes as a coalition of Iraqi Shiites, known as the National Alliance, are due to hold a third day of talks Wednesday evening after they failed to meet their own deadline to nominate a candidate for the position of prime minister.

The heightened political maneuvering by Iraqi politicians in recent days follows nearly seven months of political impasse that has left the country without a newly formed government since the March 7 elections.

Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had opposed current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for a second-term nomination following his attacks on their strongholds in 2008, which killed and injured hundreds of Sadrist supporters.

But Iraqi politicians told the German Press Agency dpa that the Sadrist bloc would shift its position and endorse al-Maliki for a second term following pressure from neighbouring Iran.

'The latest signs from the Sadrist bloc seemed to be in favour of al-Maliki,' Ezat al-Shabandar, a member of Parliament with al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, told dpa.

But al-Shabandar said he did not expect the National Alliance would reach consensus to announce their support for a candidate in Wednesday's meeting.

Allawi's visit to Syria is seen as a scramble to reaffirm regional support from Arab leaders for his party, which won the most seats in the parliamentary elections, but failed to secure the majority vote needed to form a new government.

Allawi's Iraqiya List won 91 seats to 89 for al-Maliki's State of Law coalition.

Shortly before Allawi departed for Syria, US Vice President Joe Biden called him to discuss the status of Iraqi negotiations on the formation of a new government.

During their phone conversation, Biden said the United States was not backing a specific candidate, but supported an inclusive government that reflected the results of the election, according to a White House statement.

Despite reports suggesting that al-Maliki may be nominated by the National Alliance, which formed after elections to become the largest coalition in Iraq with 159 deputies, the coalition is still four seats short of a majority.

Allawi, whose party is also comprised of leading Sunni members, has said he does not does not recognize the National Alliance and described it as a desperate attempt to 'consolidate political sectarianism'.

There were also reports that Shiite politician Ammar al-Hakim would break from the National Alliance to throw his support in favour of Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who is a member of al-Hakim's Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council party.

For his part, Allawi has already expressed his support of Abdul-Mahdi for the post of prime minister so long as the former is given a leading role in the new government.

Political tensions have followed the elections for the 325-member Parliament, with the lawmakers' only session in June lasting 20 minutes.