Iyad Allawi, the former Iraqi prime minister whose Iraqi List emerged as the front-runner in March parliamentary elections, arrived in Cairo on Monday to discuss the ongoing deadlock over the formation of the country's next government. According to sources at Cairo International Airport, Allawi, along with officials from his coalition, are scheduled to meet with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and other ranking government officials. The same sources said that Allawi planned to brief Egyptian officials on the latest developments regarding efforts to set up Iraq's new government in light of his coalition's stated refusal to join a government headed up by incumbent prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Maliki's State of Law coalition came in a close second in March elections, securing 89 seats in the national assembly compared to 91 seats for Allawi's Iraqi List. In an earlier trip to Damascus, Allawi had asked Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to urge Iranian officials--with whom al-Assad met on Saturday--not to interfere in Iraq's internal affairs. Last week, the Iraqi National Alliance, a Shia coalition, announced the nomination of al-Maliki for the post of Iraq's next prime minister following reports of a mutual US-Iranian understanding regarding the incumbent prime minister. Allawi, for his part, enjoys the support of major Sunni-Arab states in the region, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
