Nearly three months after the widely hailed elections on Jan. 30, Iraqi winning parties again failed to agree on the formation of a new government on Monday.

Lawmakers hinted the delay was due to the last minute talk between the alliance led by the outgoing Prime Minister Iyad Allawiand other big winners.

"We offered Allawi's group some portfolios but they insisted on others which we think should belong to the UIA (United Iraqi Alliance), to name some, the security ministries," said Jawad al-Maliky, a key member of the UIA.

Maliky, whose bloc won the majority parliamentary seats and thusis in charge of forming the transitional government, held Allawi's alliance -- the Iraqi List -- responsible for hindering the political process.

"We sent them letters about forming the government but they had too many demands, and at the same time it was too late (to satisfy their demands)," said Maliky.

It seemed they did not want to participate in the government andwould rather work as an opposition bloc in the parliament, he told reporters at the sidelines of a parliamentary session held inside the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.

Earlier reports said UIA leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari, nominated asthe prime minister, suggested he could announce a new cabinet lineup without supporters of Allawi's party.

Jaafari's clergy-endorsed bloc has always accused Allawi, a secular Shiite favored by Washington, of bringing members of SaddamHussein's Baath Party in the interim government and the security forces.

Allawi's alliance, having only 40 out of the 275 seats and legging far behind Shiite and Kurdish blocs, has demanded five ministerial posts, including one senior portfolio and a vice premiership.

"The Iraqi List won 40 seats and therefore it should have its justifiable electoral rights," said Hussein al-Sadr, a key member of the alliance.

"If they (Shiite and Kurdish blocs) want to form a government standing for national unity and accordance, how can they do it without the Iraqi list," Sadr said after Monday's session.

He warned of possible "surprises" in Iraqi streets if his list is ignored but stopped short of elaborating what the surprises might be.

Sunni Arabs, who largely stayed away from the Jan. 30 polls, were to given up to seven portfolios including that of a deputy prime minister and the defense minister, according to Maliki.

However, he said the prime minister-designate would have the final say on how many vice prime ministerial posts there would be, as the interim constitution did not put any limits on the number ofthat post.

"If there are only two deputies, they will be a Turkoman and a Sunni Arab," noted Maliki.

Jaafari, chief of the Islamic Dawa Party, has said he would set up a cabinet based on a broad coalition of all the ethnic and religious communities.

But the horse-trading talks and negotiations on the distributionof the main posts aroused repulsion from small parties within the National Assembly.

"Sharing power doesn't equal political accord, and I approve that a minister should be any Iraqi believing in the government andin building a unified democratic and federal Iraq," said Hamid Majid Musa, general secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party.

"Delaying the announcement of the government is a mistake and itis harmful for the Iraqi society," he said in a press release.

"The delay is due to differences over the shares, power, chairs,and decision making positions," he added.

The US administration has pressed Iraqi parties to put away disputes and end the 12-week-long stalemate over forming a new government, according to a New York Times report.

The pressure came as insurgents appeared striking back on US forces and the US-backed Iraqi security forces, taking advantage ofthe retarded political process.

More than 400 Iraqi policemen and national guards were killed inthe last two months, breaking a relative lull following the successfully guarded elections.

Source: Xinhua