Aljazeera.net: Iraqi political leaders have agreed to push ahead with US-sponsored efforts to form a government and condemned sectarian violence in an attempt to ease the gravest crisis in postwar Iraq. Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Shia prime minister, flanked by Kurdish and Arab Sunni leaders, called on Iraqis on Saturday to unite and fight terrorism in a news conference carried live to the nation on state television. With the gravest crisis since the US invasion threatening his plan to withdraw 136,000 troops, George Bush, the US president, made calls to Iraqi leaders on all sides urging them to work together to break a round of attacks sparked by the suspected al-Qaida bombing of a Shia shrine on Wednesday. Those top leaders then met for talks directed at getting plans for a national unity government back on track. Film of the meeting, attended by the US envoy, was broadcast live on state television in a clear effort to defuse sectarian tensions. The White House announced after Bush's calls to Baghdad that: "He [Bush] encouraged them to continue to work together to thwart the efforts of the perpetrators of the violence to sow discord."

AP reports:

Iraqi political parties have run into major obstacles in talks on a new national unity government, officials said Sunday, raising the possibility of a major delay that would be a setback to U.S. hopes for a significant reduction in troop levels this year. U.S. officials hope a new government that includes representatives of all Iraq's religious and ethnic communities can help calm violence by luring the Sunni Arab minority away from the Sunni-dominated insurgency so that U.S. and other foreign troops can begin to head home.

But prospects for a broad-based coalition taking power soon appeared in doubt after officials from the Shiite and Kurdish blocs told The Associated Press that talks between the two groups had revealed major policy differences. The political parties have decided to negotiate a program for the new government before dividing up Cabinet posts - a step that itself is also bound to prove contentious and time-consuming. Leaders from Iraq's Shiite majority oppose a Kurdish proposal to set up a council to oversee government operations, the officials said. Shiites also reject a Kurdish proposal for major government decisions to be made by consensus among the major parties rather than a majority vote in the Cabinet. "If the position of the Shiite alliance is final, then things will be more complicated and the formation of the government might face delays," Kurdish negotiator Mahmoud Othman said.

Shiites believe the Kurdish proposals would dilute the power that Shiites feel they earned by winning the biggest number of seats in Dec. 15 parliamentary elections. But while Shiite parties control 130 of the 275 seats, that is not enough to govern without partners. "Some parties are trying to undermine efforts to form a new government," Shiite politician Ammar Toamah said. "These blocs should not necessarily participate in government."

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AP update: Shiite lawmakers chose incumbent Ibrahim al-Jaafari to be Iraq's new prime minister Sunday even though his current government has been criticized for not dealing effectively with the Sunni-led insurgency or rebuilding the nation's crumbling infrastructure. Kurdish leaders expressed concern over the Shiite choice, which marks a key step in forming a government nearly two months after national elections. Al-Jaafari is assured the post because Shiites won the most parliament seats in the Dec. 15 national elections. He won 64 votes in a caucus of Shiite legislators, one more than Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, officials said. There were two abstentions. After parliament convenes within two weeks, members must choose the largely ceremonial position of president, who then will designate the alliance's choice as the new prime minister. Al-Jaafari's designation paves the way for the Shiite alliance to begin talks in earnest with parties representing Sunni Arabs, Kurds, secularists and others to try to form a broad-based government, which the United States hopes can calm the insurgency so American and other foreign troops can begin withdrawing. "Today's victory is not that this one won or that one won, it's the victory of the alliance with its unity and cool head," al-Jaafari said after the vote. [...]

Washington Post: The Shiite religious coalition that won the most seats in December's parliamentary elections could announce its choice for prime minister as soon as Saturday, politicians said Friday, as Iraq's electoral commission released certified results of the vote. The results, which are final, did not change the expectation that the next prime minister will come from the ranks of the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of Shiite religious parties, which won 128 out of 275 seats in the Dec. 15 elections. Two candidates from the coalition have taken center stage: Ibrahim Jafari, the current prime minister, and Adel Abdul Mahdi, a secular economist who is one of Iraq's two deputy presidents. The alliance is divided, however, among its member parties over which man to put forward, Shiite politicians said. Jafari's support comes from his Dawa party and followers of Moqtada Sadr, a popular cleric. Abdul Mahdi's primary backer is his own party, the powerful Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. It is still unclear which way a number of smaller parties in the coalition will swing.

(timeline) AP: What's next for Iraq [after the election results]

AP: Iraq's conservative Shiite United Iraqi Alliance was confirmed as the winner of December's elections, paving the way for the opening of parliament and forming a new government.Chief election commissioner Adel al-Lami read the final certified results of the polls, which were unchanged from provisional ones announced on January 20. Friday's figures for the 275-member parliament gave 128 seats to the conservative Shiite alliance, 53 to the Kurdish Alliance, and 80 to the Joint Council for National Action, an allinace of Sunni and secular groups. The remainder were shared by small parties, most representing ethnic minorities. Boosted by its own results and by the support of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and two MPs close to him, the Shiite alliance, which is dominated by religious parties, will select its prime ministerial candidate Saturday. The two main competitors are current Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari of the Dawa Party and Adel Abdel Mahdi of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). Political parties had filed 24 complaints against the results, which were examined by the Transitional Electoral Panel. Lami said "these did not change the results." The new parliament, which will have more than 25 percent women MPs, is expected to convene within the next 15 days.

BBC News: The Shia bloc which took the most votes in Iraq's election says it will form a coalition with Sunni groups but only if they do more to combat the insurgency. The United Iraqi Alliance failed to win an absolute majority in December's vote and so must govern in a coalition. An UIA spokesman said it was already reaching out to both Sunnis and Kurds and was ready to negotiate. A national unity government looks much more likely than when the result was announced, says a BBC correspondent. The United Iraqi Alliance took 128 of the 275 seats, Kurdish parties 53 and the main Sunni Arab bloc 44 in the 15 December poll. Some Sunnis still allege poll fraud and may challenge the result. [...]

AP update:

Iraqi Elections Breakdown [list of facts]

Sunni Arab politicians called for a government of national unity Saturday and signaled they will use their increased numbers in parliament to curb the power of rival Shiites, who have claimed the biggest number of seats in the new legislature. [...] Official returns released Friday from the Dec. 15 national election confirmed that the coalition of Shiite religious parties that dominates the outgoing government again won the biggest number of seats in the new parliament - but not enough to govern without partners. The Shiite alliance took 128 of the 275 seats, the election commission said. An alliance of two Kurdish parties allied with the Shiites in the outgoing government won 53 seats. Sunni Arabs, virtually shut out of the current assembly, scored major gains, opening the door to a greater role in government for the community at the heart of the insurgency. The Friday announcement paves the way for intensive negotiations to form a new government. U.S. officials are urging formation of a broad-based government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, hoping that will lure insurgents away from violence so that U.S. and other foreign troops can begin withdrawing. In separate press conferences Saturday, two leading Sunni Arab politicians expressed their interest in joining a coalition government. But they made clear they will insist on curbing the trend toward sectarianism, which many Sunnis blame on policies of the outgoing government led by Shiites and Kurds. [...]

Ayad Allawi looks like the poster child for America's vision for Iraq - secular, pro-Western, tough on terrorism. To Iraqis, the former prime minister and other secular figures proved less attractive. That underscores a truism: In the new Iraq, politics and religion go hand in hand. Allawi's ticket, which included prominent Sunnis and Shiites, won only 25 of the 275 seats in the December election, according to results announced Friday. That represented a 38 percent loss from the number of seats won by Allawi's ticket in January 2005 - although the former prime minister himself was elected to parliament. However, another prominent secular Shiite and former Washington favorite, Ahmad Chalabi, didn't even win a seat. Instead, the voters turned to candidates who ran under a religious - or in the case of the Kurds, an ethnic - label. [...]

BBC: Iraq's Shia-led United Iraqi Alliance has won the country's parliamentary elections, but failed to obtain an absolute majority. The alliance took 128 of the 275 seats - 10 short of an outright majority. Kurdish parties have 53 seats and the main Sunni Arab bloc 44. The Shias will now be expected to form a coalition government.

Blog Iraq The Model posts about a dispute over federalism, and some good news from Anbar.

AP reports: U.S. Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday said the United States will not be successful in Iraq unless the political landscape better represents the country's minorities. Obama, the nation's only black senator, met with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Saturday. He said before his two-day trip to Iraq that he wanted to ask U.S. commanders for a realistic time frame on bringing troops home. "What I'm fully convinced of is if we don't see signs of political progress ... over a relatively short time frame - let's say six months or so - we can pour money and troops in here till the cows come home, but we won't be successful," said Obama, D-Ill., who said he opposed the war before it began. Talabani predicted Saturday that a new government could be formed within weeks and said the country's main political groups had agreed in principle on a national unity coalition that would include the country's majority Shiites and minority Kurds and Sunni Arabs. Obama said he was confident a new government could be formed but was skeptical of Talabani's time frame. [...]