BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – Shi’ite Nuri al-Maliki was re-nominated as Iraqi prime minister on Thursday as fractious politicians ended an eight-month deadlock that raised fears of renewed sectarian warfare.
A pact on top government posts reached late on Wednesday brought together Shi’ites, Sunnis and Kurds in a power-sharing arrangement similar to the last Iraqi government, and could help prevent a slide back into the sectarian bloodshed that raged after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
In a sign of turbulent relations between the partners, lawmakers from the Sunni-backed Iraqiya alliance of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi walked out of the parliamentary session at which Maliki was chosen for a second term. Many Sunnis said they doubted Maliki could forge national unity.
“Today is the day of victory. The victory of the true Iraqi will,” re-elected President Jalal Talabani told parliament.
Celebratory gunfire rang out in the streets of Baghdad.
In its first steps to implement the deal, parliament met for only the second time since an inconclusive March election, electing Talabani, a Kurd, as president and Iraqiya lawmaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, as speaker.