Iraq government must work hard to keep majority: VP

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament has no immediate plan to hold a vote of no confidence in Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government, but his administration must work hard to keep its majority, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi said.

Maliki's 15-month-old government has been paralyzed by infighting, derailing efforts to foster national reconciliation among warring majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.

Ministers from three political blocs, or nearly half of Maliki's cabinet, have quit, accusing him of sidelining them. Some politicians have raised the idea of a no-confidence vote, but nothing concrete has happened.

Abdul-Mahdi, a fellow Shi'ite, said Maliki should not take lightly the declining support for his government.

"Parliament does not have any plans to withdraw confidence in the government, at least for now," Abdul-Mahdi told Reuters late on Tuesday during a visit to Dubai.

"Today, we back this government and hope it succeeds. (But) there is a sort of splintering that (the government) must monitor closely and seriously ... If this decline continues, it will be threatened with not being able to garner majority support in parliament."

Abdul-Mahdi is a senior leader in the powerful Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), one of the biggest parties in Iraq and a key member of the ruling Shi'ite Alliance.

The Alliance itself has come under strain, with one of its members, a faction loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, among the blocs to withdraw its ministers from the cabinet.

Abdul-Mahdi, one of Iraq's two vice-presidents, has been touted as a possible successor to Maliki.

MOUNTING PRESSURE

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who visited Baghdad this month, said in recent comments published on the Web site of U.S. magazine Newsweek that many people believed Maliki should be replaced, possibly by Abdul-Mahdi.

Kouchner apologized, but some opposition U.S. Democrats including presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton have called for Maliki to go.

Abdul-Mahdi declined to say if he wanted the job, saying he had no ambitions beyond the vice-presidency. The issue was one for Iraq's parliament to decide, he added.

The mounting internal pressure on Maliki's government comes at a critical time in the more than four-year-old Iraq war.

In two weeks time, U.S. President George W. Bush's top officials in Iraq will testify to the U.S. Congress on Iraq's security and political situation.

With opposition Democrats and some Republicans calling for U.S. troops to start leaving Iraq, the reports by U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker and U.S. commander General David Petraeus could prompt a shift in Washington's Iraq policy.

Abdul-Mahdi said he did not expect any major change in U.S. policy but anticipated a gradual troop withdrawal as Iraqi forces gained the experience and weapons to take over security.

"The surge was useful in the end, after all the fuss," he said, referring to Bush's decision early this year to send an additional 30,000 troops to Iraq.

"What will the American government decide? I do not think there will be a decision to change course entirely, 100 percent. There could be a gradual cut in troops ... I don't expect sensational transformations."