July 2010: Quarterly Report To Congress

From Transition to Transformation?

On June 14, 2010, Iraq's new Council of Representatives (CoR) convened for the first time–99 days after the March 7 parliamentary elections. In a session lasting less than 30 minutes, 325 deputies took the oath of office and then adjourned. The CoR was scheduled to meet next in late July and attempt to fill the key positions of Speaker of the CoR and President of the Republic.

The closely contested nature of the March elections left uncertain the future composition of the Government of Iraq (GOI). None of the political blocs won the 163 seats needed to form a government; negotiations to construct a ruling coalition continue. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's al–Iraqiya alliance won the most seats (91) on a nationalist platform that attracted Shia and Sunni supporters but was not sufficient to form a government. On June 10, the second and third place finishers– Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition (89 seats) and the Iraqi National Alliance (70 seats) announced their intent to ally, but they have yet to agree on who should be prime minister. Consequently, four months after the vote and on the eve of the CoR's second meeting, Iraq's post–election trajectory remains uncertain.

Once the new government is formed, the prime minister and new cabinet will turn to address a substantial legislative docket. Among the myriad contentious issues to be considered are the need to pass the long-postponed package of hydrocarbon laws, the future of Iraq's anticorruption institutions, the dynamics of the Kurdistan Region's relationship with Baghdad, and amendments to the Iraqi Constitution.

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This report is also broken out by Figures, Pictures, and Tables. Download All Pictures here.