Major Shiite groups have formed a new alliance that will exclude the Iraqi prime minister, lawmakers said Monday, a move likely to stoke fears of increasing Iranian influence and shake up the political landscape ahead of January parliamentary elections. The coalition will include the largest Shiite party, the Iranian-backed Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council and anti-US cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr's bloc, which could give Tehran deeper influence in Iraq just as US forces begin to withdraw. The last American soldier is scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of 2011. Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki's Dawa Party was left out because of disagreement over who would lead the alliance, senior SIIC member Reda Jawad Taqi told The Associated Press. He said a last-minute meeting held Sunday in a bid to bring Dawa into the coalition had failed to overcome the differences. Key figures in the alliance said efforts continued to try to reach agreement with Dawa. “We are hoping for their participation and the door will be left open for them,” ex-prime minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari said. The announcement was a new setback for Al-Maliki, whose efforts to portray himself as a champion of security has been battered by a series of devastating bombings in Baghdad and in northern Iraq in recent weeks. The most recent of these struck the foreign and finance ministries on Wednesday, killing about 100 people and wounding some 500. The uptick in violence has heightened fears that Iraqi security forces aren't ready to protect the people nearly two months after most US troops pulled back from urban areas. Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a top SIIC member, also reached out to Dawa, saying it was important to present a strong united front that can face the overwhelming challenges facing the country. “Forming the alliance is the first step and the second step will be broadening it and inviting political parties and national figures to join in order to achieve unity,” he said. Monday's announcement was a major shift in Shiite politics, which have long been dominated by the Supreme Council and Al-Maliki's Dawa party. Al-Maliki's aides have said the prime minister was working to form a broad-based, national coalition that he could lead in the January vote in a bid to end sectarian politics. The inclusion of Sunnis in the Shiite-led alliance announced Monday and his own battered image could force him to reconsider. The coalition will replace the United Iraqi Alliance, which won control of parliament in the last parliamentary elections in December 2005 elections but began to unravel later with the withdrawal of two major factions and bitter rivalry between Al-Maliki and the Supreme Council. Most Shiites will likely vote along sectarian lines as they did in parliamentary elections in January and December 2005.
