Opposition fails to gain votes to unseat Iraqi Prime Minister

The political crisis in Iraq will continue. Nouri Al Maliki the prime minister has faced growing opposition from Kurdish and Sunni parties. However, he also faces opposition within Shia groups as well particularly from the Al Sadr group. The opposition seems united in finding that Al Maliki is consolidating power and shutting out any opposition.

However the president Jalal Talabani a Kurd supports the prime minister. In turn both have the support of Iran and perhaps surprisingly the U.S as well. No doubt both feel that at least Al Maliki provides a degree of stability in the country. Opponents say that they will continue their struggle to unseat al-Maliki in spite of their setback. There are questions about Talabani's counting of the vote that fell short of the mark.

Opponents say that they sent Talabani a letter that had pledges from 176 representatives in the 325 member parliament saying they would vote for the recall of al-Maliki. This was 12 more than needed for a majority. When Talabani reported back he said there were only 160 valid signatures and that 13 of the signers had told him that they were withdrawing or suspending their signatures. One wonders what prompted the representatives to change their mind; also, the numbers add up only to 173 not 176. This sort of thing seems symptomatic of the state of Iraqi politics.

Meanwhile sectarian attacks continue in Iraq with Al Qaeda seeming to make a comeback. For more see this article.