Iraq's new parliament to reconvene on Tuesday

In an effort to push forward the stumbling political process, Iraq's transitional assembly will convene for the second time on Tuesday, government sources said on Friday.

A speaker and his two deputies will be elected at the meeting,but the lawmakers will continue their talks on the presidency and formation of the cabinet, the sources said.

Shiite alliance and the Kurdish parties, the biggest winners in Iraq's parliamentary elections, have been involved in heated negotiation over the key governmental posts and controversia lissues including the status of Kirkuk city.

While the assembly was sworn in at a high-profile ceremony mid-March, an agreement on the lineup of the government is elusive nearly two months after the landmark Jan. 30 polls.

It was widely expected that a Sunni politician will take thepost of parliamentary speaker, and one of the two deputy presidents of the state will also go to a Sunni.

Shiite and Kurdish officials have reached out to Sunni communities, voicing their support for the minority to take a considerable role in forming the government and writing the constitution.

Most Sunni Arabs, which enjoyed privilege in the previous regime of Saddam Hussein, did not cast their ballots in the Jan. 30 elections due to a general call for boycott.

Source: Xinhua