Sunni bloc backs away from Maliki Cabinet

BAGHDAD, May 28 (UPI) -- Sunni political bloc the Iraqi Accordance Front Wednesday backed away from a deal to join a new Iraqi government over a disagreement over Cabinet seats.

Accordance Front spokesman Salim al-Jibouri said his bloc put forth a list of six candidates for positions in a new Iraqi Cabinet. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, however, rejected their submission for the Iraqi planning minister, the Iraqi television network Al-Sumaria reported.

The position is filled currently by Ali Baban, an independent.

The Iraqi Accordance Front, along with the Sadrist Movement of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, withdrew from the Maliki government in August over a series of political disputes. The boycott left 10 positions vacant in the Maliki government.

Jibouri said the Accordance Front decided to suspend talks with the Maliki government and withdrew its list of candidates.

Accordance Front lawmaker Nadira Ayef al-Ani told Voices of Iraq that the Sunni Awakening Councils put pressure on the Maliki government to consider their members for Cabinet seats, affecting Maliki's decision on the planning ministry.

Tribal leaders, however, denied the allegation, saying, "The problem is between the front and the government. The (Awakening) Councils have no relationship whatsoever with the tension surrounding the choice of candidates."