Iraqiya expects 12 posts in Iraqi gov't

BAGHDAD, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- The Sunni-backed Iraqiya slate is expecting to occupy 12 positions in the Cabinet of the new Iraqi government, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Iraqiya won March parliamentary elections by just two seats, falling well short of the 163-majority needed to form a new government alone. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in early November was able to generate enough support to get nominated for a second term despite his loss in March.

Shaker Kattab, a spokesman for Iraqiya, told the Voices of Iraq news agency his party was slated to take up several top positions in the next government.

"Iraqiya is to occupy 12 ministerial posts in the next government, which is our electoral right, in addition to the posts of deputy president, deputy prime minister and the chairmanship of the Supreme National Council for Strategic Studies," he was quoted as saying.

The Supreme Council was offered to Iraqiya as a way to check the authority of the prime minister. Kattab said he was concentrating on holding the Finance and Oil ministries in the new government.

Maliki has about a month to form a new government, though the religious calendar suggests there will be few political developments until early 2011.