Hussein al-Shahristani is part of Iraq’s caretaker government Six months after Iraq’s parliamentary elections, a government minister has warned that the political deadlock is damaging the security situation.
Oil and electricity minister Hussein al-Shahristani told the BBC that insurgents were exploiting the failure to reach a power-sharing agreement.
Despite improvements in recent years, attacks remain a daily reality, killing hundreds each month.
On Sunday, insurgents attacked an army base in Baghdad, killing 12 people.
American soldiers were called in to help Iraqi forces fight the insurgents, in the first such use of US troops since the end of the US combat mission five days ago.
Iraqi voters went to the polls on 7 March, but returned a hung parliament. Six months on, there is still no government.
First there was the election – much hailed for being inclusive and relatively peaceful; Then there was the recount – with millions of ballots sifted through by hand, the BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse reports from Baghdad.
Twelve people died on Sunday in a daylight raid by suicide bombers on an army base in Baghdad The result, however, stayed the same: a parliament so hung – or finely balanced – that the politicians still cannot decide who should form the next government, our correspondent says.
Hussein al-Shahristani, a close ally of the prime minister in Iraq’s caretaker government – effectively the same government that was in power before the election – told the BBC that bombers have been able to exploit political differences to their advantage.
“The security could have been handled more firmly,” he said. “Now the terrorists are hoping that by having these political differences they can penetrate through the cracks in the political system.”
In other areas of life, the absence of a new government has had little impact – jobs are scarce and public services are patchy at best, our correspondent says.
As the US winds down its military involvement in Iraq, many Iraqis are pondering their legacy of democratic government; Some are wondering what is the point of voting, if you still don’t get to change your leaders, he adds.
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