Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will meet with his main rival, former premier Iyad Allawi, later on Saturday as the country gets ready for the parliaments first session after the March 7 elections. State-TV quoted lawmaker Hassan al-Alawi, of Allawi's Iraqiya list, as saying that the meeting will be held in Baghdad on Saturday evening. Iraqis have been waiting since April for the first meeting between Allawi and al-Maliki to discuss forming a new government. The Iraqi parliament convenes on Monday after three months of political stalemate following the elections in which Allawi's Secular Iraqiya List beat the State of Law coalition of al- Maliki by just two seats. Allawi's list won 91 seats in the 325-member parliament, compared to 89 for al-Maliki's alliance. The National Iraqi Alliance came third with 70 seats. Iraqi Security forces began securing the area around the parliament building, though there will not be a curfew and the nearby bridges will not be closed. The parliament will elect a president for the country, who will then invite the head of the largest bloc to form the new government. Both Allawi and al-Maliki are competing to head the future government. Allawi insists he has the right to form a new government because his bloc won the highest number of seats. Meanwhile, al-Maliki says he has the largest bloc in the parliament with 159 deputies, after forming the National Alliance with the Ammar al-Hakim's Iraqi National List. However, that total is still four seats short of a majority. -- SPA
