Parliament Vote Puts Iraq Closer to a New Government

Iraq moved one step closer to finally forming a government on Saturday as lawmakers overturned a contentious decision barring three prominent Sunni Arabs from national politics.

The vote in Parliament helped to resolve a furor that erupted nearly a year ago, after an Iraqi panel sought to disqualify hundreds of Sunni candidates from elections because of their alleged ties to Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party.

The disqualifications set off angry demonstrations and accusations that threatened to further marginalize Iraq’s Sunni minority and undermine efforts to form a government that folded in all of Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian factions.

Lifting the ban will allow the three Sunni politicians to hold office, and should help to cement the participation of a large Sunni-backed political alliance in Iraq’s fragile unity government.

It also clears the way for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to name his cabinet, potentially ending nine months of feuding and political drift that has followed inconclusive national elections in March.

Mr. Maliki’s allies said he could announce a new government as early as Monday, five days before he is required to do so under a constitutionally mandated deadline.

But on Saturday evening, lawmakers still appeared to be jockeying for control over important ministries that control Iraq’s security forces, oil and public services, as well as other high-ranking positions. It was unclear whether they could iron out their disputes in the next two days.

Members of the multisectarian coalition Iraqiya celebrated Saturday’s vote, shaking hands and grinning broadly in the halls of Parliament. It was a sharply different mood from a month ago, when many of the group’s members walked out of a raucous parliamentary session to protest inaction on several of their demands, including the reversal of the disqualifications.

Iraqiya, led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, narrowly won the most votes in the elections, but was outmaneuvered in the long impasse that followed. Mr. Maliki won another term as prime minister, and the Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani was re-elected as one of the country’s presidents.

Mr. Allawi signaled this week that he would end his threats to bolt from the government and accept a position as head of a newly created council on national and strategic issues.

On Saturday, members of Mr. Allawi’s bloc said that they were pushing for one of their formerly disqualified leaders, Saleh al-Mutlaq, to become one of Iraq’s two vice presidents. Winning the post would be an impressive turnaround for Mr. Mutlaq, a former agronomist whose fortunes have risen and tumbled several times since the United States invaded in 2003.

“What happened today is a point toward launching more reconciliation,” said Haydar al-Mullah, a spokesman for the group.

But what pleased one faction certainly angered another.

Politicians from a heavily Shiite political alliance boycotted the session, leaving a bare majority of Parliament’s 325 members there to form a quorum. Those attending joked that they had to take quick action on reinstating their candidates, or else members of opposing parties would show up and derail the vote.