The Iraqi political arena has seen more developments towards the resolution of the current crisis, but we have yet to overcome the obstacles related to national partnership and the political decision-making process. Some do not listen to the opinion of the others, and this means that there is a standstill and the crisis is stagnant given that the political parties are not reaching any agreement to fund balanced solutions that satisfy all the blocs. Perhaps the most notable developments in the arena are:

1 -Meeting of leaders at the house of President Talabani:

It seems that this meeting did not lead towards the adoption of solutions to the crisis between the State of Law list , which is headed by Mr. Nuri Almaliki and the Aliraqiah list headed by Iyad Allawi. Despite the presence of Mr. Maliki and Allawi at this meeting it did not result in concrete actions because the parties have certain goals that other did not see as appropriate to put forward during this meeting. State of law wants from the other party to discuss the status of the foreign troops, whereas Aliraqiah’s goal was to obstruct what State of law wanted to present in the meeting and wanted to discuss Erbil agreement of the nine (9) points. What stood during this meeting was:

A)The fear of some that the withdrawal of U.S. forces may push security matters in a negative direction and this means that the government cannot ensure the return of these forces once again, leading to a serious deterioration of security later.

B) The United States is pushing for the retention of its troops in Iraq, so it puts pressure on all parties to accept the status quo, especially Aliraqiah list and State of law.

C) A rapprochement did not happen in this meeting, between Maliki and Allawi.

D) It seems that some people do not trust verbal promises from the other, but want written assurances together with practical steps and after that confidence broke among them.

E) Aliraqiah was trying to discuss the issue of the Iraqi National Council for Strategic Policies, but the other party tried to evade the consideration of this matter.

Sayed Alhakim and a leading figure in ISCI, Adel Abdul Mahdi, attended the meeting and sent a serious letter saying that there should not be any comments on any of these intersections. This position was understood as a rejection to whatever partisan wills and agendas that do not serve the interests of Iraqis. By finding solutions to this crisis without having political consensus, and without having any political prospects for a new national dialogue there is no way to move forward.

2-The crisis with the Kurds:

We said and continue to say that any unresolved political crisis will give birth to other crises and this happened already when some provinces inquired into the establishment of regions. According to the Constitution and from the negative comments from the Prime Minister, the Kurds were angered and considered the statements of Mr. Maliki on federalism a clear departure from the Iraqi constitution. This is what created another crisis that added to the previous crises between the provinces and the central government.

3- Balance of Power

The political forces have witnessed in the past few weeks, a distinct shift in the balance of their forces, with some blocs settling down and others weakened as a result of successive crises. We see that the balance of power between the blocs began to change and could affect the current situation at any moment. That is why Mr. Nuri Almaliki and President Talabani initiated these talks to offer a compromise and gave promises to Aliraqiah to resolve the problems between the blocs through the formation of a joint committee. This was to be done within two weeks, but these committees have not yet formed .

4- Culture of resignation:

Mr. Adel Abdul Mahdi set a precedent in the new Iraq. One that the country  is not familiar with. He did this when submitted to the will of the Iraqi people and resigned from his position as Senior Vice President of the Republic of Iraq. His resignation was accepted by President Jalal Talabani, who reluctantly and after serious attempts to bend the will of Adel Abdul Mahdi.

We say that despite all the pressures on Mr. First Vice President and ISCI for the withdrawal of resignation either by the President of Iraq Jalal Talabani or by several political figures and heads of blocs, the will of the Iraqi people was above all considerations. Mr. Adel Abdul Mahdi was the first Vice president over the past years where no one was asking him to resign because of his national supervisor in the defense of the demands of the Iraqi people.

5- Independent bodies:

We have repeatedly said that independent bodies are constitutional bodies established under Article (102) of the Iraqi Constitution and stated that “the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Independent Higher Commission for Elections and the Integrity Commission are independent bodies under the control of the Council of Representatives and their work is organized by law” and the constitutional article (108) stated that “other independent bodies may be established as required.” What concerns us is the attempt to freeze the work of the Electoral Commission for elections that this was a politicized attempt intended to freeze the work of the Commission. ISCI has said that questioning from the Iraqi parliament is constitutional because it is subjected to the parliament. We said that there is a need to provide an alternative able to manage such very serious institutions.

We see that such crises are desperate processes that need to be reviewed and to impart justice in such situations.