Eight months after the elections, the three largest factions reach a deal that should be ratified by parliament today. Al-Maliki, a Shia, remains prime minister, Talabani, a Kurd, remains president, and secular-Sunni-Shia block leader Allawi gets speaker’s post in parliament and chairmanship of new National Council for Strategic Policy.

Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) – An agreement between the three largest groups (Shia, Sunni and Kurds) broke an eight-month deadlock that had paralysed the country’s political life. Overnight, a deal was brokered, leading to a national unity government, which parliament should approve tonight.

Outgoing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shia, should succeed himself. Al-Iraqiyya’s Yiad Allawi should become parliamentary speaker. Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, should remain president. Allawi’s party should also get the Foreign Ministry.

The turning point came when Allawi, whose party held the single largest number of seats (91 against al-Maliki’s 89), gave up his demand for the prime minister’ post in exchange for the creation of a National Council for Strategic Policy, which he would chair. The new body should be responsible for the government’s main strategic choices. In fact, it was created to force al-Maliki to share power more effectively, a demand Allawi insisted upon.

The new government confirms Iran’s higher profile in Iraq, not only because al-Maliki remains prime minister but also because radical Shia cleric and ant-US firebrand Moqtada al-Sadr backed the new coalition government. What his 40 members of parliament will do remains unclear.

Although Allawi is a Shia, he heads a nominally secular alliance that includes Sunni parties.

More importantly, the new government avoids leaving Sunnis out in the cold, again, something that would have given extremist groups like al-Qaeda greater leeway.

For the United States, the reported deal was a "big step forward". For Kurdistan Regional President Massoud Barzan, it was a “victory for all Iraqis".

In addition to greater power sharing among Iraq’s groups, the deal includes lifting the ban on former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baa‘th party from joining the public service and the armed forces.

This should pull the rug from under extremists in the Sunni community, which under the old regime dominated both government and military institutions.

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