Agendas trying to press heads of blocs against convening the national conference

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: State of Law MP Abdul Salam al-Maliki stated today that “there are agendas trying to press heads of political blocs to ensure that the coming national conference is a failure”. He pointed out that his bloc welcomed convening this conference, but that it should be attended by heads of political figures in addition to the three presidencies, thereby ensuring “it will not be an expanded conference”. Maliki told IraqiNews.com that “the State of Law called for the conference to solve pending questions, with its limited form, because holding it in its expanded status needs further time for preparation and will hinder the activities of the parliament”. He called on al-Iraqiya Bloc to “re-attend parliamentary sessions, even if it returned as an opposition bloc”, because “we need the continuation of parliamentary work and endorsing the laws that will benefit the Iraqi people”. Iraq is living in real political crisis following the accusations against Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi and the differences between Maliki and his deputy Saleh al-Mutlaq, both leading members of Iraqiyah bloc. In an attempt to solve pending questions among all parties, President Jalal Talabani proposed making a general national conference, due at the beginning of the next month, to solve these questions, including those between Arbil and Baghdad on oil and gas law and the implementation of Article 140 of the constitution. RM (TI)/SR 967