Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has called on parliament to convene its first session following the March 7 elections on Monday, officials said Tuesday, DPA reported.
In the first session is to see the election of a new speaker, followed within two weeks by the election of a new president. The president would in turn invite the head of the largest parliamentary bloc to form a government.
Iraq's federal court ratified the election results earlier this month, after three months of intense political jockeying following an outcome that showed former premier Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya List had narrowly won the March 7 parliamentary poll.
Iraqiya List won 91 seats in the 325-member parliament, closely followed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, with 89 seats.
Allawi insists he has the right to form a new government because his party won the highest number of seats. But al-Maliki says he can form a larger bloc in parliament, with 159 deputies, under an alliance with the Iraqi National List. But that total would still be four seats short of a majority.