Day 34: Still no government in Iraq. The problem remains the same as it was the day after the election results were announced; the United Iraqi Alliance doesn’t have a 2/3rds majority by itself, the Kurds aren’t willing to form a coalition unless they get Kirkuk, and Allawi’s faction isn’t big enough to form a majority with the Kurds.
Allawi has been pressuring the UIA in an effort to pull away enough votes to get a majority. Sistani, who backs the UIA, is lobbying against that (original) and will probably succeed in holding the line. The Kurds are claiming their issue is with the possibility of an Islamic state; this is a problem for them but Kirkuk is really the key bargaining point.
The problem is that once a Prime Minister is selected, he or she has the ability to run the country without the coalition if he has a simple 50% majority. Thus, there’s no good way for the UIA to guarantee anything to the Kurds if the Kurds don’t trust them. The UIA has a 50% majority; a Prime Minister from the UIA could rule without Kurdish help once the Kurds has voted him in.
In any case, the Parliament is meeting in 10 days, with or without a coalition. Should be interesting to see what happens.