Biden, the Obama administration’s point man on Iraq issues, will discuss the stalled politics in separate meetings with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his chief challenger, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.Iraqi politicians have been bickering since the March 7 parliamentary election that left the country without a clear winner about who should have the right to form the next government. Al-Maliki and Allawi largely have been driving the delays as each tries to outmaneuver the other for a majority share of support in parliament. The Shiite prime minister’s State of Law coalition narrowly lost out to Allawi’s Sunni-backed Iraqiya alliance during the election, 89 seats to 91 seats. But both fell far short of the 163-seat majority needed to govern outright.
Maliki’s appeared to gain an advantage after the election by joining forces with the Iranian-backed Iraqi National Alliance to form a super-Shiite coalition. But even that partnership has been stalled by its inability to decide who will be its pick for the prime minister post. Biden was meet early on Sunday afternoon with Allawi, and later with Maliki.
But aides said late Saturday that the vice president believes that the new government -- whoever becomes prime minister -- must represent all sides to avoid touching off sectarian tensions that could destabilize Iraq. The aides, speaking on condition of anonymity to more candidly discuss Biden’s thinking, said it appears that Iraqi leaders also agree on potential risks of a government that alienates any of the competing political factions. Charles Dunne, an Iraq expert at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said Biden’s visit is a clear sign of “a new, more activist phase of American diplomacy in the election standoff.”
