Sunni Bloc Walks Out on Iraqi Parliament

Iraq’s political compromise didn’t last long. Ayad Allawi’s predominantly Sunni Iraqiya party walked out of a parliament session intended to unite it in a coalition government with Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law party yesterday, the New York Times reports, after it failed to force votes on some of its key demands. “We can’t go on with a government that begins with a violation of its agreements,” fumed one Iraqiya lawmaker.

The contentious provisions include a release of detainees, and a reverse of a decision that disqualified three Iraqiya candidates because they were members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party. American, Arab League, and Kurdish officials are now scrambling to repair the damage, according to CNN. One Kurdish lawmaker said that though he hoped the deal, which is less than 24-hours old, doesn’t fall through, if the situation is “not amended” and “they don’t come back, I am afraid it will.” (More Iraq stories.)