Allawi again rejects Maliki as PM

The head of Iraq's largest political coalition has once again ruled out participating in any new government headed by Nouri al-Maliki, the current prime minister. Iyad Allawi, the leader of the Iraqiya bloc, repeated a threat he has made several times in the past, saying in a statement on Friday night that an al-Maliki-led government is something which "cannot be repeated". "Iraqiya believes the current type of government headed by Maliki cannot be repeated, so Iraqiya will not take part in any government headed by him," the statement said. It continues by saying that "the political scene has been marred by constitutional violations and deliberate complications by the executive power, with the intent to steal the democratic and constitutional right of the Iraqiya list and sideline it from the political scene." Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh, reporting from Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, said "this is not the first time that we hear Iraqiya voicing complaints, but these were certainly the strongest words yet, since the March 7 elections. These are some very serious threats."