Today's meeting between the three presidencies of Iraq - the President, the Council of Ministers and the Council of Representatives - will primarily discuss the agenda of the upcoming Arab summit in Baghdad and not the date of the national conference, said the State of Law Coalition (SLC).

The SLC ruled out the possibility of holding the conference before Thursday's Arab summit.

SLC leader Saad al-Mutlabi said today's meeting of the presidencies may include discussion about the date of the national conference.

Mutlabi added that the meeting of the preparatory committees for the national conference is still going ahead and there is no dispute about the conference.

The Iraqi Council of Representatives stated yesterday that the three presidencies of Iraq agreed to hold a meeting today in preparation for the long-delayed national conference.

Iraqiya List MP Mohammad al-Khaldi said the meeting would call for "calmness" and encourage politicians to stay away from making "tense" media statements that would increase the complexity of political issues.
Iraqiya, led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, threatened last Thursday that it would not attend the national conference if it were held after the Arab summit on March 29, adding that such a conference would have "no value".

Iraqiya List insists on the need to hold the conference before the Arab summit, with the possibility of holding it after the summit if "serious intentions" are shown by the other parties.

The National Accord party, also led by Allawi, rejected PM Nouri al-Maliki's proposal to hold the conference during the first week of next month and considered such a suggestion to be "procrastination" by the State of Law Coalition (SLC).

Iraqiya List and the Kurdish Blocs Coalition accuse the SLC of not taking seriously the implementation of the Erbil agreement.

The agreement proposed by Kurdistan Regional President Massoud Barzani ended a nine-month dispute over who should run the government following March 2010's elections. The deal, which was signed by all the major political party leaders in Erbil, reinstated Maliki for the second successive term.

Maliki's elections rival, Allawi, whose Iraqiya List won the elections, was promised a National Council for Strategic Policies in return for his concession over the PM post. The council was not formed and the PM's SLC and Iraqiya began incriminating and accusing each other of violating the Erbil pact.

The country witnessed political tension accompanied by security breaches days after the departure of US forces on December 18 last year.

The political crisis deteriorated with the issuance of an arrest warrant against Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and the demand of Maliki for the Council of Representatives to dismiss the PM's deputy, Saleh al-Mutlaq.

The SLC refuses to discuss the issues of Mutlaq and Hashemi at the national conference but Iraqiya insists that such discussion should take place at the event.





AKnews