BAGHDAD, Jan 28: Iraq’s Sunni and secular groups have agreed to form a single bloc in talks with Kurds and Shias on a new coalition government, in a bid to strengthen their negotiating position, officials said on Saturday.

The main Sunni political grouping, the Iraqi Accordance Front, and the Iraqi National list, led by former prime minister Iyad Allawi, have joined the Iraqi Unified Front of Sunni politician Salih Mutlak, the officials said.

The parties will formally announce the move on Sunday.

“By negotiating together they have a better chance,” said Abdul Hadi al Zubeidi, a member of the Accordance Front.

“They have the same ideas, such as forming a technocrat government, opposing federalism in the south and the centre, and they all agree that the interior ministry should not be in the hands of people related to political parties,” he said.

Sunnis want to amend the constitution, fearing that its provisions for federalism will give Kurds and Shias control over Iraq’s vast oil reserves and eventually break the country apart.

Sunnis also complain that police, controlled by the Shia-led interior ministry, unfairly target their community.

By joining forces, the Sunni and secular parties would have a total of 80 seats in the 275-seat parliament, making them the second-biggest bloc in the assembly.

The Shia Islamist Alliance won 128 seats in the Dec 15 parliamentary poll, while the Kurdish Alliance, with whom they formed a coalition government after elections in January last year, won 53 seats.

“Basically it is to face the Kurdish and Shia coalition,” Mr Zubeidi said.

Sunni leaders are angry over the results of the polls, claiming they were rigged, but they have committed themselves to talks on a new coalition government.

One of their demands, which they say is negotiable, is for a Sunni to become the new president. That would set up a clash with the Kurds, who now hold the post.

Informal talks between the Shia Alliance and the Accordance Front began this week. The Sunni parties say they will take a decision next week on whether finally to join the government.

US diplomats involved in the process are pressing for an inclusive, consensus government as a way to undermine the resistance and allow US troops to begin pulling out of Iraq. —Reuters