Talabani's Efforts to End the Crisis

President Jalal Talabani has increased his meetings with political leaders to end the crisis over forming the new government and to ensure that the political process will not be blocked. While (United Iraqi Alliance member) Sami al-Askari announced that alliance insisted on keeping current prime minister Ibrahim al-Ja'fari for the premiership, (Kurdistan Alliance member) Mahmood Osman noted that there were signs that some of the other political blocs had changed their positions (opposing Ja'fari.) He also noted that the president was holding intensive negotiations with the different slates to search for a common ground and asked them to be flexible to end the problem. Osman said because of the flexibility shown in the negotiations, parliament may hold a session on Thursday or early next week.