Iraq's new parliament is to meet for its first time on Tuesday. The crucial meeting will decide on a speaker, a prime minister and a president, then finally forming a new government.
Embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is under growing pressure to build a new and more inclusive government to reunite his country, which is deeply divided by the feud among Sunni, Shitte and Kurdish people. Maliki has been widely accused of monopolizing power and alienating Iraq’s Sunni and Kurdish minorities.
The prime minister earlier rejected calls for an interim "national salvation government", and said the parliament meeting, which is very much dominated by his political bloc, will not be postponed.
"Now they are betting on the postponement of parliament’s first session - they’ve failed. And on July 1, we will be in parliament and all those who accept or reject this, like it or not, we will be present in parliament," al-Maliki said.
