[Al Arabiya Latest] President Jalal Talabani has called the first session of Iraq's new parliament for June 14, more than three months after an inconclusive election that has yet to yield a government.An Iraqi spokesman says President Jalal Talabani will issue a formal order to seat the new assembly. Talabani's spokesman Nasser al-Ani says the order may come as early as Tuesday.
It's still not clear which political faction will control Iraq's parliament or have the first shot at picking a new prime minister.
Iraq's Supreme Court ratified the result of the March 7 election a week ago, affirming the narrow victory of a cross-sectarian coalition led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. But his Iraqiya alliance fell short of a majority, forcing tense negotiations between fractious Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish blocs to form a government.
The secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya alliance won with the heavy backing of the Sunni minority, but is being challenged for the right to form the government by the two main Shi'ite blocs of incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Withdrawal tensions
The impasse over the formation of a government comes as the U.S. military pulls its troops out of Iraq, in line with the terms of a bilateral security agreement between Baghdad and Washington.
All American combat troops are set to leave Iraq by the end of August, leaving about 50,000 to advise and train their Iraqi counterparts. A complete withdrawal is due by the end of 2011.
Insurgents appear to be exploiting the power vacuum. There has been a spike in civilian casualties in April and May and a spate of attacks targeting police officers, government officials and Sunni ex-insurgents who switched sides to fight al-Qaeda.
Overall violence in Iraq has dropped sharply since the worst days of sectarian bloodshed in 2006-07, but bombings and shootings remain a common occurrence.
Figures released earlier this month showed that 337 Iraqis died as a result of violence in May, the fourth month this year where the overall death toll was higher than the same month in 2009.
Iraqi and U.S. security officials have warned that a long period of coalition formation could give insurgent groups an opportunity to further destabilize the country.