The chaotic breakdown of a key Iraqi parliament meeting raised fears Wednesday of a delay in drawing up a permanent constitution because of the failure of Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis to agree on a government.
Iraq's ethnic and religious groups were huddled in meetings as they attempted to resuscitate a political process that has become deadlocked two months after the country's first free elections in 50 years.
"There is concern about whether we have enough time to complete the constitution. We'll have to work harder on this," Saad Jawad, a Shiite member of the 275-seat parliament, said.
With parliament mired by infighting and turf wars over cabinet posts, questions abounded whether the country's volatile communal mix could strike a balance on a permanent legal charter by mid-August, the deadline set in the interim constitution (TAL).
"There are certain groups that want to see the TAL as the basis of the new constitution. If that is agreed upon it will make our job much easier to finish it by August. But probably we'll see some big differences," said Sunni MP Hajem al-Hassani.
He feared key national identity issues that could barely be settled now would rear their head again over the spring and summer.
"State and religion will definitely come up again, federalism will come up again, some of the touchy issues will crop up. Personally I think we'll see an extension."
The TAL calls for the permanent constitution to be completed by mid-August and put to a national referendum in October, but allows an extra half-year for drafting the document if the sides cannot reach agreement.
Despite MPs being eager to present a united face to the public, Tuesday's parliament session ended instead in catcalls and bitter divisions over the failure to choose a parliament speaker.
As prominent figures including Prime Minister Iyad Allawi bolted from the proceedings and the media was ejected, parliament adjourned the session - only the second since the January 30 election - until Sunday.
The circus-like debacle brought to the surface the power struggle among the Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis that has dragged on in closed-door negotiations since the watershed election that saw millions vote despite security fears.
The failure of politicians to put aside their differences in the face of a deadly insurgency and a war-shattered economy has stirred anger on the streets and elicited warnings that parliament risks losing its legitimacy.
For weeks, the election-winning Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), with 146 of the 275 parliament seats, and the second-place Kurdistan Alliance have haggled over posts.
Iraq's long-oppressed Kurdish minority, benefiting from the need for a two-thirds majority to approve a presidency council and prime minister, has shut down the proceeding as it seeks the maximum concessions from the UIA.
The battle for power between Shiites and Kurds has left the vastly under-represented Sunnis, with only 16 seats, feeling shunted to the side.
Sunni MPs' refusal to nominate a speaker Tuesday stemmed as much from their resentment over what they perceived as the community's marginalisation by the Shiites and Kurds.
"The Sunni people are not represented well. The other groups the Shiites and the Kurds want many things... The Sunni parties are not happy with opportunities being given to the Sunni people," said Alaa Maki, head of the Sunni Islamic Party's political bureau.
"They (the Sunnis) want the defense ministry, the presidency, and other important ministries. These were points of contention."
The Shiites and Kurds had agreed to award the post of speaker to one of the 16 Sunni Arabs MPs in a bid to reach out to the community, which largely boycotted the election due to anger over the US presence in Iraq as well as the threat of violence.
Analyst Joost Hilterman of the Brussels-based International Crisis group warned the Shiites and Kurds risked further alienating Sunnis by relegating them to the sidelines of cabinet negotiations.
"At the moment neither has a government been formed, nor has there been a real inclusion of the Sunnis. There's so much bargaining between the Shiite and Kurds that that has been no real translation for the... the Sunni Arabs."
A group of 32 Sunni parties have now organised a bloc called the National Front, Maki said. It includes the Islamic Party, which boycotted the elections, and political insiders such as president Ghazi Yawar and nationalist Adnan Pachachi, who has no parliamentary seat.
Even hardline Islamist groups like the Sunni Muslim Waqf (religious endowment) and the Committee of Muslim Scholars, with rumoured links to the insurgency, are participating.
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