Rivals form new alliance but deadlock is far from over

On September 25, media reports confirmed that a deal had been finalised late into the night by leading parties to end the year-long political deadlock through the formation of the State Administration Coalition (I’tilaf Idarat al-Dawla). The alliance’s signatories are the Shia Coordination Framework, Sunni rivals Siyada and Azm, Kurdish adversaries the KDP and PUK, as well as the Christian party Babiliyun. But a renewed attempt at forming a new government will be anything but plain sailing. A few factors are worth considering: