BAGHDAD—As Iraqi leaders draw negotiations on forming a new government to a close, caretaker Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Saturday that the talks are “sectarian and Iraq’s interests are sidelined.”
“Negotiations for forming a government are not positive,” Maliki said in a statement. “They are sectarian, personal and partisan and Iraq’s interests have been sidelined.”
Maliki denounced some of the candidates for ministerial posts, saying, “Some names have been nominated for important posts who are accused of corruption and known as bad in the psyche of the Iraqi people.”
Maliki who was forced by the president to resign last month, said in his statement that the moderate and “loyal voices” have been weakened in the negotiations.
The Sunni-majority Wataniyah bloc lead by Ayad Allawi said that ministerial and political posts have been commercialized in the negotiation process, threatening to “reveal the names of those who merchandize the ministerial posts of the new government.”
Hamid Mutlag, Sunni MP and member of Wataniyah said in a press conference that his bloc fights for human rights and the will of the sect [Sunnis] who have become a target of repression.”
Iraq’ Sunni parliamentary speaker, Salim al-Jibouri, echoed Mutlag’s concerns, saying, “meeting the demands of the Sunni population is their precondition for supporting Abadi’s government.”
Haider al-Abadi, a senior member of the Dawa Party has been asked to form a new cabinet and Iraq’s Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish groups have been in talks for several weeks in Baghdad.
Jibouri said that the Shiite alliance has not heeded the Sunni demands in the negotiations, but he urged all parties to speed up the process and reach an agreement.
Also on Saturday, Kurdish MP in Baghdad, Muthana Amin said that all talks had ended without any conclusive results.
“We as Kurds will not participate in a government that has no room for Kurdish demands,” Amin told Rudaw.
Amin said that with regards to some Kurdish demands prime minister-designate Abadi is less flexible than Maliki.
“On some issues Maliki was more lenient than Abadi,” said Amin.
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