BAGHDAD - Iraq's election-winning Shiite list said Wednesday it was pushing for Iraq's parliament to meet Saturday.
"We may convene (parliament) on Saturday," said Ali al-Dabbagh, after a closed-door three-hour session of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), with 146 seats in the new 275-member parliament.
Dabbagh said the UIA was awaiting a response from the Kurdistan Alliance, its main partner in a potential coalition government, with its 77 seats in the parliament.
He said he expected the sides to meet Thursday and take a decision on when the parliament will hold its second session and nominate its speaker and the country's president.
Shiite negotiator Maryam Rayes had raised hopes Tuesday the parliament could meet as early as Thursday to vote in the next government.
The UIA's prime ministerial candidate Ibrahim al-Jafaari issued a deadline Tuesday for wrapping up talks after spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani had expressed his discomfort with the delay late Sunday.
Sistani has put his weight behind the UIA, catapulting the majority Shiites to power for the first time in Iraq's modern history.
The long-deprived community will take 16 to 17 ministries, the Kurds seven to eight and the Sunni minority four to six, according to Rayes. The Christian and Turkmen minorities will receive one post each.
Kurdish sources gave nearly matching accounts of the next government's shape, although they suggested parliament might not convene until next week.
Both Shiites and Kurds are keen to ensure a role for Sunnis, who have largely powered the insurgency and who widely boycotted the election.
Dabbagh said the post of defense minister would go to either a Sunni or Kurd, but it has not yet been decided.
03/23/2005 16:37 GMT