Iraqi Vice President Launches Consensus Initiative
Iraq’s political quagmire, exacerbated by increasing sectarian violence, may yet be overcome with the help of the vice president’s consensus initiative.
The Iraqi National Alliance bloc, which includes a broad spectrum of Shiite political forces, adopted the Social Peace Initiative on Aug. 28. This initiative was launched months ago by Vice President Khodair al-Khozaei, who tried to gain the political support of various forces.
A meeting was held between the president, the prime minister and the parliament speaker at Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office on Sept. 10, which was seen by most political forces as a step toward holding the long-awaited national meeting.
The National Alliance adopting Khozaei’s initiative represents an important development in coordinating the alliance’s action mechanisms, which seem to have suffered major divides recently. More importantly, the alliance continued to cling to the idea of reaching a political consensus in light of the issues outlined in Khozaei’s initiative.
The consensus approach had experienced a setback as a result of the political intersections between the various blocs and accusations that Maliki had undermined the possibility of a consensus. On the other hand, Maliki was requested to adopt a system of majority rule instead of a partnership or consensus government.
