Iraq has apparently broken the world record for longest time taken to form a government after an election, surpassing the 208 days the Dutch ran up in 1977. And the Dutch presumably did not have bombs going off throughout the process.
I haven't commented much of late about the Maliki/‘Allawi standoff; mostly I think because not much new has happened. But at least they'll make it into the Guinness Book.
There seems to be a lot of pressure to form yet another Government of National Unity, which is clearly a very difficult thing to manage. Would a (barely) minority government, coupled with a real opposition, really be that bad? Worse than waiting months for a government to be formed? It seems to have worked in Britain and Canada -- admittedly countries with a tradition of democracy and respect for the rule of law -- why not Iraq? Do people somehow think that the Iraqis can keep this up forever?
ReplyDelete