The Wall Street Journal quotes Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Fellow Ramzy Mardini on the Iraqi parliament’s failure to reach a decision on whether Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will remain in office:
A number of Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish delegates left the session because no concrete slate of agreed candidates had been compiled before they convened, said Hoshyar Abdullah, a parliament member from the Kurdish city of Sulaymania.
“Walkouts are a part of Iraq’s symbolic politics. Frankly, I would have been surprised if there weren’t any,” said Ramzy Mardini, an expert on Iraq at the Washington-based Atlantic Council.
He cautioned U.S. diplomats from forcing the stalled process forward.
“The U.S. must allow the extensive and intricate bargaining process between the political parties play out on their own timetable,” he said. “There are still too many uncertainties to move forward.”