DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A new Sunni coordination body in Iraq has yet to discuss government positions as members focus on unifying their ranks, a senior member of the coordinating body told The New Region on Monday. 

Badr al-Fahl, a senior member of the newly-formed National Political Council, said that the Sunday meeting in Baghdad “did not discuss government positions at all,” explaining that it remains too early to talk about positions and no decisions have been made.  

Fahl, who is also Governor of Salahaddin, stressed that the body brings together all the winning Sunni forces and serves as a “unified umbrella similar to the [Shiite] Coordination Framework.” 

The council’s goal is to address community issues, find solutions to ongoing crises, and negotiate with Kurdish and Shiite partners, according to Fahl. 

He said a coordination committee will be created, and the council will hold regular meetings. “Everything related to the Sunni community will come out of this council,” Fahl said, noting that initial negotiations will focus on Sunni-majority provinces.

The announcement followed a meeting on Sunday at the home of Sovereignty Alliance leader Khamis al-Khanjar. The gathering included leaders of the Taqaddum Party, the Azm Alliance, the Sovereignty Alliance, the Hasm al-Watani Alliance, and the Al-Jamahir Party.

In a joint statement received by The New Region, the parties said the council was formed out of “national responsibility” and in recognition of the challenges facing the country after the recent elections. The statement said the leaders discussed political developments and the difficulties facing both Iraq and their provinces.

The new council is intended to unify Sunni political efforts, protect constitutional rights, strengthen representation in state institutions, and maintain political and social stability, the statement added.

The parties agreed that the council will function as a single umbrella to coordinate positions on major national issues and will continue to meet regularly throughout Iraq’s sixth parliamentary term.

Iraq concluded its sixth parliamentary elections on November 11, in which over 7,750 candidates competed for the Iraqi legislature’s 329 seats. No party won enough seats to earn a parliamentary majority, with inter-party negotiations to form the next Iraqi cabinet being essential as a result.

Mohammed al-Halbousi’s Taqaddum Party and its coalitions scored the highest number of seats among the Sunni forces in the recent elections, securing 36 seats.

With the final results announced, the upcoming Iraqi parliament must hold its first session within 15 days, during which the representatives elect a speaker, a post that traditionally goes to a Sunni Arab.

Within 30 days of the first session, the parliament must also elect a president for the country, which is a post traditionally reserved for Kurds but one that the Sunnis have also recently expressed interest in.