Iraq's Allawi hopes new government to be formed next month

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Friday in Beirut that he hopes the new Iraqi government would be formed next month.

Allawi told reporters after a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri that "things are moving in the right direction."

"I believe that the negotiations between the various parties are now in their final stages and we hope to conclude this matter in the near future," he added.

"I think that at the end of this month, the form of government and the three presidencies will be clearer, and we hope the government will be formed next month," he stressed.

Hariri, for his part, urged the Iraqis to accelerate the formation of a national government "gathering everybody, and able to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people," according to Allawi.

Allawi's remarks came one day after outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told reporters in Beirut that Allawi "can assume the premiership."

However, he stressed after meeting Hariri that "the process should meet the adopted and approved constitutional mechanisms."

"There is no veto on any of the lists that participated in the elections and won, but we are in a democratic country and we resort to the law and the constitution," he added.

Since the March 7 parliamentary election, Iraqi politicians have been bickering about who should have the right to form the next government.

Al-Maliki's State of Law coalition narrowly lost to Allawi's Iraqia bloc, but neither side gained the majority needed to govern outright.

Source: Xinhua