The comments from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in an interview aired Friday, appear to offer an olive branch to former premier Ayad Allawi and his secular Iraqiya bloc.

They also amount to a concession by al-Maliki that he cannot sideline Iraq's minority Sunnis, who gave Iraqiya enough support to win 91 seats in the March 7 vote.

Al-Maliki's State of Law alliance won 89 seats.

«The Iraqiya list included the most representatives of Sunnis ... so they have to be partners in forming the government,» al-Maliki told the U.S.-funded Alhurra TV station.

He said he hopes the new government will be led by majority rule and «give up the sectarian» influences that would pit Iraq's Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish and other religious politicians against each other.

«The situation in Iraq has not settled yet,» al-Maliki said. «The government should be a national partnership ...

all components of Iraqi society must be represented.» Over the last week, however, State of Law representatives have been negotiating with leaders of the Shiite Iraqi National Alliance to combine forces and cobble together enough seats to shut Allawi out of power. The INA won 70 seats in the election.

The backdoor dealmaking stems from the election's inconclusive results that have left Iraq politically rudderless for the last month. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill predicted last week it could take months more before a new government is seated.

A political bloc needs the support of at least 163 lawmakers in Iraq's 325-seat parliament to form a majority coalition to govern.

The Sunni minority, which dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein, was politically targeted days before the election by a Shiite-led vetting panel that purged candidates with alleged ties to Saddam's Baath party from running on the ballot.

Most Sunnis wound up voting for Allawi, who had the backing of a top Sunni politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq. In all, more than 440 candidates were banned from running — including al-Mutlaq.