"Decisive decision" Thursday on forming Iraqi gov''t -- top leaders

BAGHDAD, Nov 7 (KUNA) -- Next Thursday will witness "a decisive" parliamentary session regarding the issue of forming a new government, the nation top leaders said.
Chiefs of all political parties agree on the necessity of speeding up settlement of pending issues related to the formation of the cabinet and call for holding a decisive session of the parliament, said President Jalal Al-Talbani during a news conference he held along with Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maleki, late on Saturday, following a meeting with the head of the Islamist Al-Islah movement, Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, at the latter's residence in the Iraqi capital.
Al-Talbani added that the National Coalition and the Kurds' parties are also in total consensus on supporting the initiative of Masoud Al-Barzani, the leader of Iraq's Kurdistan, to resolve the crisis.
"We have stressed on the necessity of hastening the formation of a powerful government to be in charge of enforcing security and stability and achieve prosperity as well as speedily execute utility ventures," the president added.
Al-Barzani, the head of the Kurdish region that enjoys substantial autonomous prerogatives, has proposed formation of a committee, made up of the parliamentary bloc's leaders to investigate mechanisms to form the government and distribute sovereign posts. His initiative is also aimed at trimming powers of the premier till formation of a new cabinet.
For his part, Al-Maliki affirmed that the main political parties "reached the last phase of the discussions for forming a new government." He also confirmed that the meeting talks dealt in particular with the Thursday session where the lawmakers should take a final decision and resolve the problem.
Iraq has been without a new government since last March, when nationwide polls were held but none of the contesting parties secured a majority of votes to become eligible for forming an executive council.
The incumbent premier indicated at the common approach that the aspired government should group representatives of all movements and parties.
The National Coalition was formed in the lead-up to the January 2005 elections from mainly Shiite groups, namely the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and Islamic Daawa Party.
The war-haggard nation has been calling for forming a new cabinet as soon as possible to take charge of crucial issues such as restoration of security and stability and re-building the infrastructure namely the out-of-date oil sector.
Iraq's political scene has entered a new chapter since the ouster of the Baath regime of the dictator Saddam Hussein by a coalition of allied forces in 2003. The dictator, after his two sons were killed in a security raid, was executed later. Since the topple of the Baath regime, the local leaders have been seeking to consolidate democracy and normalize conditions in the long-troubled country. (end) ahg.rk KUNA 071001 Nov 10NNNN