Fifteen Days to Form the Government

Incoming prime minister Jawad al-Maliki promised to form the new government within fifteen days and said the ministerial posts would be allocated based on the election results. He maintained that the agenda agreed upon by the different slates would help him form the government. The program consists of 33 articles and implies that a national unity government will be formed from the slates that won the most votes in the elections. (Several political slates are advocating a national unity government that includes all of the major political blocs but does not strictly appropriate ministerial posts based on the amount of votes each slate received. Maliki's United Iraqi Alliance, which holds the most seats in parliament, wants ministerial posts distributed proportional to the votes each slate received.)