By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Mariam Karouny
Baghdad - Iraq's parliament erupted in acrimony at its second sitting on Tuesday and journalists were thrown out after lawmakers berated leaders for failing to agree on a new government, two months after historic elections.
When parliamentarians were told that despite last-minute talks that delayed the session, no agreement had been reached, even on the post of parliamentary speaker.
"The Iraqi people who defied the security threats and voted - what shall we tell them? What is the reason for this delay?" Hussein al-Sadr, a politician in the bloc led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, asked the assembly before the news blackout.
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As the meeting grew heated, the interim speaker ordered journalists to leave and Iraqi television abruptly switched to Arab music. Allawi walked out of the session shortly afterwards.
Two months after millions of Iraqis braved suicide bombers and insurgent threats to vote in the January 30 polls, many are increasingly angry that despite intensive haggling no agreement has been reached on forming a government.
The mainly Shi'a Islamist alliance which holds just over half the seats and the Kurdish coalition that came second in the polls, have been arguing for weeks on the composition of a cabinet.
They have also been trying to involve Sunni Arabs, who dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein but have been left with little representation because most voters in Sunni Arab areas stayed away from the polls due to intimidation and anger.
But no deal has been reached, and several government officials say the delay has stalled key projects, deepened chaos and hampered efforts to defeat the mainly Sunni insurgency.
Tuesday's stalemate was prompted by the failure of Iraq's competing blocs to agree on a parliamentary speaker. Officials said parliament would meet again to try to reach a deal.
The Shi'a Islamist alliance and the Kurdish coalition have agreed that the speaker should be a Sunni Arab, to give the Sunni minority more involvement in politics.
Most of the 17 Sunni Arabs in the 275-member parliament favour Adnan al-Janabi as their candidate, but he is an ally of Allawi, a secular Shi'a, who has so far declined to join the government, saying his bloc will move into opposition.
The Shi'a alliance is backing Fawaz al-Jarba - a Sunni who joined the mainly Shi'a alliance. But other Sunnis are against this as he is seen as too close to the Shi'a alliance, Sunni parliamentarian Meshaan Jibouri said.
"This is the fault of the Shi'a and the Kurds who failed to bring Allawi into the government," Jibouri said.
He said that if Jarba was pushed through as speaker - which the Shi'a could do with their parliamentary majority - other Sunni Arabs would walk out of parliament, leaving attempts to draw them into politics in tatters.
Once a speaker is agreed, the National Assembly's next task will be to elect a president and two vice presidents. A two-thirds majority is needed for that, which will mean the Shi'a and Kurds must reach a deal to muster enough votes.
The presidential triumvirate will then have two weeks to choose a prime minister, who will then appoint a cabinet.
The Shi'a and Kurds have broad agreement that Shi'a Ibrahim Jaafari will be the next prime minister with veteran Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani taking the president's post.
The two vice presidents are expected to be interim Finance Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shi'a, and the Sunni Arab Yawar.
But officials have not agreed on the distribution of cabinet posts. The Kurds are expected to retain the foreign ministry, with the defence ministry going to a Sunni Arab. But the key oil ministry is a source of disagreement - the Kurds covet it, but the Shi'ite alliance insists it should get the ministry.
Cracks are also appearing within the Shi'a alliance, with some members voicing doubts about Jaafari.
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