Iraq PM's bloc forms committee to consider coalitions

BAGHDAD, March 13 (AFP) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law Alliance has formed a committee to begin negotiating with rival blocs to form a government, a senior member of his coalition said on Saturday.

The confirmation that State of Law has begun talks on forming a government comes as initial results from Iraq's March 7 parliamentary polls gave Maliki a slender lead over his main rival for the top job, ex-premier Iyad Allawi.

"The State of Law Alliance has formed a small committee of five members," Abbas al-Bayati, a candidate for the coalition, told AFP.

"The committee met with representatives of four political entities that made progress in the elections."

He declined to name any of the members of the committee or which blocs State of Law had held talks with.

Bayati added that State of Law believed that Maliki should retain his post as prime minister.

Preliminary results from the March 7 polls released on Thursday and Friday put Maliki's coalition in the lead in the predominantly Shiite southern provinces of Najaf, Babil and Muthanna.

Allawi's secular Iraqiya alliance was ahead in the mostly Sunni provinces of Diyala and Salaheddin, while the Iraqi National Alliance, led by Shiite religious groups, was in pole position in mostly Shiite Maysan.

The Kurdistania alliance, made up of the two long-dominant blocs in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, was leading in Arbil province.

Results released so far represent less than a third of votes cast.

Complete results are expected on March 18 and the final ones -- after any appeals are dealt with -- will likely come at the end of the month.