BAGHDAD, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Rival Iraqi political blocs on Monday claimed they have formed the largest alliance that would form the next government, hours before the first parliament session.
In early hours of the day, Iranian-backed Coalition of al-Fath, led by Hadi al-Ameri, and former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who heads State of Law Coalition, announced they formed the largest alliance with 145 lawmakers after they got some lawmakers to defect from other blocs.
"We are now the largest alliance and the MPs are free to make their decisions, and we hope other parties to join us," Ameri said at a joint press conference with Maliki at dawn in the Green Zone in central Baghdad.
Maliki said "the new alliance will be named (Construction), and the number of the alliance 145 lawmakers."
Late on Sunday, other political blocs led by Sairoon Coalition, backed by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Abadi's Nasr, Hikma led by Shiite cleric Ammar al-Hakim and Wataniyah, led by Shiite secular Ayad Allawi, announced they have formed the largest alliance which comprises some 162 lawmakers from 11 parliamentary blocs, and hours later they announced that they got up to 180 lawmakers from up to 16 parliamentary blocs.
The conflicted announcements by the political blocs confused the political scene just hours ahead of the first parliament session.
The negotiations to form the largest alliance have intensified since the Federal Supreme Court ratified the final results of May 12 parliamentary elections on Aug. 19, marking the first step toward forming the new Iraqi government.
According to Iraqi Constitution, the outgoing President Muhammad Fuad Masoum called on the new parliament to hold its first session on Monday under the chairmanship of the eldest parliament member, to elect a president of parliament and the president of the country, who will ask the largest alliance to form a government within 30 days.
On May 12, millions of Iraqis went to 8,959 polling centers across the country to vote for their parliamentary representatives in the first general election since Iraq's historic victory over the Islamic State militant group in December 2017.
