This time they may really do it

摘要

Iraq's politicians were poised, as The Economist went to press, to take their biggest step, since an inconclusive election eight months ago, towards finally getting a new coalition government. Nuri al-Maliki, the incumbent prime minister, looks set to stay on. The presidency, a largely ceremonial job, seems likely to go again to the Kurds, perhaps also to the incumbent, Jalal Talabani. And the party led by Iyad Allawi, a secular Shia backed strongly by Sunnis, which narrowly won the most seats in the election in March, will probably get the post of parliamentary speaker, the chair of a new security council, and perhaps the foreign ministry too. If parliament endorses this package, Mr Maliki will have 30 days to allot the entire gamut of ministries.