Adil Abdul Mahdi had been proposed as the new Prime Minister, but SCIRI MP Hameed Maalah was quoted saying the groups hadn't yet agreed on a new leader.
The following matters were expected to be the most important issues for the new government to deal with: One of the main areas faced by the new government was the issue of federalism, which includes the formation of one or more Shi'ite regions, the status of Kirkuk and any possible amendment to the Constitution of Iraq Under a compromise agreed in September 2005 between the United Iraqi Alliance, Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan and Iraqi Islamic Party, the new Assembly would consider amendments to the constitution in its first four months.
Despite widespread agreement amongst a majority of parties in Iraq that the text is in need of revision, partly in order to clarify some technical issues but also in part in order to bring the constitution more closely in line with the Iraqi mainstream, the constitutional revision process has not made any progress through parliament since 2007.
Legislators from the Iraqi Accord Front, Sadrist Movement and Islamic Virtue Party all opposed the bill.
It was vetoed by the Presidency Council at first, on the grounds that giving the Prime Minister the power to dismiss Governors would contravene the constitution.
In August 2006 Maliki appointed a committee to "examine the status" of Kirkuk "in light of Iraq's federalist system", headed by the Sunni Arab Justice Minister Hashim al-Shibli.
[6] As soon as the government was formed members of the Basrah-based Islamic Virtue Party started a "go-slow", annoyed that they had lost their control over the oil ministry.
A provincial security council was appointed by Prime Minister Maliki, consisting of: D+Z, a development magazine based in Germany, reports the current administration reverting to Saddam-era police tactics, including torture and extrajudicial executions.