Six Months After Iraqi Elections, Still No Agreement On Government Leadership
Workers with the Independent High Electoral Commission move ballot boxes after finishing the recounting process in Baghdad on May 14. Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP hide caption
On March 7, Iraq held parliamentary elections. Back then, NPR's Quil Lawrence said there wouldn't be results for months.
We don't really know solid numbers yet, and we're still probably suspecting that no one got enough to form a government on his own, and so there will have to be some coalition building, and we know that's going to take months.
Some six months later, Iraq's political parties have yet to agree on who should run the country.
As we reported earlier, Vice President Joe Biden is meeting with Iraqi officials today, to press them to come up with an agreement on how to form a government.
According to NPR's Kelly McEvers, an aide to Biden told reporters that the U.S. is determined to build a long-term partnership with Iraq -- but to build a partnership you need a partner.
"The U.S. hopes the Shiite party of current Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki and the secular, Sunni-backed party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi will reach a power-sharing agreement," she reports. "The two groups got the most votes in the election."
Iraqis say the U.S. doesn't have much of a card to play in the negotiation game, yet the U.S. insists it wields significant diplomatic power.