This article concerns the formation process of the Al Maliki I Government of Iraq in the aftermath of the Iraq National Assembly being elected on December 15, 2005. Due to disputes over alleged vote-rigging the results of the election were only certified by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq on February 10, 2006.

Under the constitution of Iraq, the first meeting of the Assembly should have taken place by March 12, 2006, one month after certification of the election. The Assembly should have elected the Speaker in its first session, the President no more than fifteen days later, the Prime Minister no more than fifteen days after the President, and the Cabinet no more than thirty days after the Prime Minister.

If any of these deadlines were not met a new election should have been held. However, similar deadlines have been missed before in Iraq — for example with the drafting of the constitution of Iraq — without the legal consequence occurring.

First Assembly meeting Negotiations over the new government only started in earnest once the results of the election were in.

Acting President Talabani attempted to convene a meeting of the Assembly for March 12, but this required the assent of acting Vice-President Adel Abdul Mahdi, who initially refused to consent.

The seven parties within the United Iraqi Alliance wrote to Talabani asking him to delay the first session until there was agreement on who should occupy top government positions. They were reluctant to approve the Assembly speaker – expected to be a Sunni – or the President – expected to be a Kurd – before they had agreed to their nominee as prime minister.

However, on March 8, Abdul Mahdi backtracked and agreed to sign the decree, on the basis that it would be a "pro-forma" session that would not discuss the Prime Minister and after advice from the Federal Court of Iraq that the Assembly could be convened via an alternative process if he refused to sign.

Talabani agreed to delay the first meeting until March 19 after the Dawa and Sadr Blocs within the United Iraqi Alliance threatened to boycott the session, which might block quorum. At a meeting with the US Ambassador, the leaders of all the Iraqi parties agreed to bring forward the date to March 16, to prevent the meeting clashing with the Shia festival of Arba'een.

In the event the meeting lasted only thirty minutes and dealt with the swearing-in of the new Assembly members. It was technically left open rather than being adjourned so that the constitutional requirement to elect the Speaker at the first session could be complied with. The Assembly's eldest member, Adnan Pachachi, chaired the session as acting speaker following Arab political tradition.

On April 12 Pachachi announced that he would convene the Assembly again for April 17 in an attempt to break the impasse over the new government. However, on April 16 he agreed to postpone the meeting for "a few days" as the Alliance had objected to the nomination of Tariq al-Hashimi to the post of speaker, calling him "hardline and sectarian".

Coalition parties Under the newly adopted constitution of Iraq, the Presidency Council of Iraq, Prime Minister of Iraq and Cabinet must have the support of two thirds, or 184, members of the Iraqi National Assembly. The parties who formed the government were:

United Iraqi Alliance (excluding the Islamic Virtue Party) – 113 Kurdistani Alliance – 53 Iraqi Accord Front – 44 Iraqi National List – 25 The Upholders of the Message – 2 Iraqi Turkmen Front – 1 National Rafidain List – 1 Total – 240

The 29 members of Sadrist Movement within the United Iraqi Alliance withdrew from the government in November 2006, taking the total down to 211. In August 2007, the main Sunni bloc, Iraqi Accord Front withdrew from the Government. The government currently controls 167 seats out of 275 in the National Assembly.

Opposition parties in the Assembly are:

Islamic Virtue Party – 15 Iraqi National Dialogue Front – 11 Kurdistan Islamic Union – 5 Reconciliation and Liberation Bloc – 3 Mithal al-Alusi List – 1 Yazidi Movement for Reform and Progress – 1

This is the first time that a Sunni Arab-led political group had been included in an Iraqi government since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Negotiations Immediately after the elections, leaders of all four major political groups called for a government of national unity. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani called for a "government linking everyone, Arabs be they Shias or Sunnis, Kurds and Turkomans" Adnan al-Dulaimi of the Iraqi Accord Front said he was willing to enter into coalition with the Kurdish Alliance, the Iraqi National List or the United Iraqi Alliance.

On 2 January the main Sunni list, the Iraqi Accord Front held meetings with Kurdish representatives in Irbil. They reportedly said they would abandon claims that the elections had been rigged once an international election monitors' review was completed, and agreed an outline of a new national unity government. After meeting with Talabani on 8 January, Adnan al-Dulaimi said that significant headway had been made of forming a coalition government and that "Talabani and I have an identical point of view regarding the formation of a national unity government based on consensus". However al-Dulaimi was attacked by the Iraqi National Dialogue Front headed by Saleh al-Mutlaq who said they had broken an agreement with his and Allawi's lists to not discuss the new government with the Kurds until the electoral results had been reviewed.

Iraqi National List

The Sadrist Movement party within the United Iraqi Alliance originally opposed including Allawi's list in the new government, saying "Allawi is a red line... Allawi represents the Baathists. He's against us. He's arrested our people."

However, on January 22 the Kurdish leaders called for a government of national unity to include all four largest lists.

On March 12 US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said that Iraqi political leaders had agreed that "there is no redline, in terms of the inclusion of any faction, in the formation of the government".

Islamic Virtue Party

The Islamic Virtue Party, a member of the United Iraqi Alliance coalition with 15 Assembly members announced May 12, 2006 that it was withdrawing from the government, complaining that the United States was interfering with the formation of the government. It has been pressing for one of its members to be named the new Oil Minister.

Iraqi National Dialogue Front

Following a suicide bombing in Karbala, Sadrist demonstrators in Baghdad chanted "We're going to crush Saleh al-Mutlaq with our slippers", accusing him of backing the Karbala bombers. Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, the leader of SCIRI, said the Sunni parties' alleged support for terrorism would "only increase our willingness to exclude" them.

On May 12, 2006, the Iraqi National Dialogue Front said it had decided not to join the government, saying it is too "sectarian". It walked out of the Assembly meeting that agreed the government protesting that "it was formed on the basis of an ethnic and religious proportional system"but said he would "support everything positive that comes from al-Maliki's government"

The party was not included in the cabinet approved on 20 May, but ten days later an Iraqi newspaper, Al-Sabah al-Jadid reported that Maliki was considering a reshuffle to bring the party into the government.

Sadrist withdrawal In November 2006 the Sadrist Movement withdrew from the government in protest of the meeting between US President George W. Bush and al-Maliki. This reduced the government's majority to 211 out of 275 seats. The Sadrist were later reported to have started an opposition group with Iraqi National Dialogue Front to campaign for the withdrawal of foreign troops and against federalism.http://www.juancole.com/2006/12/talabani-hakim-reject-intl-conference.html Talabani, Hakim Reject Int'l Conference], al-Zaman translated by Informed Comment, 2006-12-04

In January they agreed to rejoin the government, after an all-party committee was agreed to look at a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces.Iraq Shiites reach political deal, Reuters via China Post, 2007-01-22. Retrieved 2007-01-21.

However, in April they withdrew again, demanding a timetable for withdrawal.Al-Maliki's position shaky as Baghdad leadership splits , Earth Times, 2007-04-17. Retrieved 2007-04-17.

Iraqi Accord Front withdrawal

On 1 August, the Iraqi Accord Front which consists of 44 members of the Parliament, withdrew from the Government. Al-Hashemi will remain vice-president.Iraq Sunni bloc quits coalition , Al-Jazeera, 2007-08-01

Iraqi National List withdrawal

Shortly after the IAF withdrew from government, the secularist Iraqi National List announced that their five ministers were suspending their participation in cabinet meetings citing the failure of al-Maliki to respond to the List's demands.After the IAF, 'Allawi Suspends his Ministers from the Government, Al-'Arabiya via IraqSlogger, 2007-08-06. Retrieved 2007-08-09. Initially, they said they would continue their ministerial work, but three weeks later they withdrew completely. The communist science minister, however, decided to continue in the government.Three ministers to quit Iraqi Cabinet, Taipei Times, 2007-08-25. Retrieved 2007-08-26.

Moderates Front

In August 2007, a new alliance was formed, calling themselves the "Moderates Front". This consisted of the four remaining core parties of the al-Maliki government: Islamic Dawa Party, led by Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which includes Vice-President Adil Abdul-Mahdi Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani

The Iraqi Islamic Party, which includes Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi, agreed later to join the alliance.Al-Hashemi Joins Maliki Alliance , Al Alam, 2007-08-26. Retrieved 2007-08-27. The five parties hold around 130 out of 275 members of the Iraqi Council of Representatives.

Dawa and SIIC are Shi'ite Arab Islamist parties, the KDP and PUK are secular Kurdish parties and the IIP is a Sunni Arab Islamist party.

The new alliance agreed to dilute the de-Baathification provisions of the constitution of Iraq, release prisoners who are held without charge, and hold governorate council elections.

Prime minister Initial Alliance nomination Under the constitution, the largest list in the Assembly, the United Iraqi Alliance, has the right to name the Prime Minister. The UIA comprises the following parties:

On 12 February the Alliance selected the incumbent Ibrahim al-Jaafari as their candidate after a close ballot of its 130 assembly members.

Four Alliance members originally put their names forward as candidates:

Jafaari, the leader of the Islamic Dawa Party Adel Abdul Mehdi, the deputy leader and nominee of SCIRI Nadim al-Jabiri, the nominee of the Islamic Virtue Party Hussain al-Shahristani, an independent

The Alliance was unable to agree on a candidate by consensus, so decided to put it to a vote. al-Jabiri and Shahristani withdrew their candidacies before the vote. Although they were both thought to favour Abdul Mehdi, they both decided not to publicly back either remaining candidate.

The Iraqi newspaper, Al-Sharq al-Awsat, claimed that Iran had exerted pressure on the Alliance to choose Jafaari, and the Sadr Movement threatened violence if Abdul Mahdi was chosen. However, the Iranian conservative newspaper, Baztab, was said to be supporting Abdul-Mahdi who has closer ties to Iran than Jafaari.

The two Assembly members from the Sadrist The Upholders of the Message list were also allowed to vote. One member, Hasan al-Rubai, from the Sadr Movement arrived late so couldn't vote. The result was:

Jafaari – 64 Abdul Mehdi – 63 Blank – 2 Absent – 1 Total – 130 (128 from the Alliance and 2 from the Message)