Baghdad, Iraq – A leading Sunni politician said Friday that his party would be open to an alliance with secular Shiites and Kurds to form a coalition government to run the country once the results are in from last week’s parliamentary elections.
“We will not accept the exclusion of any segment of the Iraqi people unless they themselves don’t want to participate,” said Adan al-Dulaimi, a former Islamic-studies professor who heads a Sunni Arab bloc that is expected to have power in parliament.
U.S. officials view al-Dulaimi, who heads an alliance called the Iraqi Accordance Front, as a possible intermediary who could persuade some Sunni-led insurgent groups in restive Anbar province to join the political process after boycotting previous votes.
In an interview with The Associated Press, al-Dulaimi predicted that Shiite religious parties would be unable to form a government, even though they are widely expected to take the largest number of seats.
That would open the door to a coalition of Sunnis, secular Shiites and Kurds, he said.
However, al-Dulaimi’s prediction that the Shiites would be unable to form a government is by no means a certainty.
Shiites account for about 60 percent of Iraq’s 27 million people, and turnout in the Shiite heartland of southern and central Iraq was reported as high.
Under the newly ratified constitution, the party with the biggest number of seats gets first crack at trying to form a government than can win parliament’s endorsement. That is likely to be the coalition of Shiite religious parties that dominate the outgoing government.
Still, a government with strong Sunni Arab representation could help defuse the Sunni-dominated insurgency and allow the United States and its coalition partners to begin removing troops next year.
On Friday, Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander, told Pentagon reporters in a video teleconference that he will make recommendations in the next few weeks about troop withdrawals from Iraq.
