In Diyala province, about 50 people were detained three weeks ago during a rally protesting the detention of a local Sunni political leader. Ten were members of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a leading Sunni party that Shiite parties in Diyala suspect of having links to Sunni insurgents and would like to hobble.
Equally controversial is al-Maliki's project to form tribal councils that have a direct relationship with his office and are paid from his budget. The groups, called support councils, are being created in predominantly Shiite and predominantly Sunni areas.
Their mandate is vague, but conversations with members suggest they are a way to bring powerful tribes into al-Maliki's political orbit so he has a local power base. Al-Maliki's Dawa Party is not particularly influential in the provinces, unlike the parties of some of his rivals.
Deep resentment at these attempts to bolster his power, and especially his exclusion of all but a small inner circle from decision-making, is prompting serious discussion of forcing al-Maliki out by holding a no-confidence vote in parliament. Such a vote removes the prime minister and requires the appointment of a new one. An effort to depose him in 2007 failed, but this time the talk seems more serious.
About two weeks ago, the leaders of the major political factions in the government met in northern Iraq to discuss al-Maliki and whether they could muster the votes to get rid of him, according to high-ranking Iraqi politicians and Western diplomats.
"We have been counting the votes, and we have enough votes to withdraw confidence and nominate a new prime minister," said a senior member of the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of Shiite parties and independents that forms the largest bloc in parliament. What they do not have, however, is agreement on who would get the top jobs, which the parties want to nail down before making any moves.
The parties' concerns with al-Maliki vary. The Sunni parties mostly feel distrusted, slighted and left out of decision-making. Many Sunnis remain in detention despite an amnesty law that was supposed to result in the release of thousands from Iraqi jails.
The Kurds are furious that, despite promises from al-Maliki and his government, there has not been a vote on whether disputed areas in the north, including Kirkuk, should be part of the Kurdistan region.
