More than nine months after March 7 elections resulted in a prolonged political deadlock in Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday presented part of his new government to parliament.

Here are the main developments in the political crisis over power sharing:

MARCH

– 7: Iraq holds its second parliamentary elections since Saddam Hussein was ousted by a US-led invasion in 2003. Turnout is 62.4 percent despite violence which killed 38 people.

– 26: Preliminary results show the Iraqiya bloc of Iyad Allawi won the election with 91 seats, followed by Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law Alliance with 89, out of 325 total. Neither has enough to form a government on their own.

– 27: Allawi says he is launching talks to form a coalition government.

MAY

– 4: State of Law joins forces with parliament's third bloc, the Iraqi National Alliance, with the newly-formed grouping, named the National Alliance, falling four seats short of an absolute majority.

– 15: The movement loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which holds 40 seats in parliament, lifts its veto over Maliki becoming prime minister again.

JUNE

– 1: Iraq's supreme court ratifies the results of the election.

– 12: Maliki and Allawi hold talks for the first time following the election, and again meet on June 29.

– 14: The new parliament holds its first session, lasting just 18 minutes.

AUGUST

– 16: Iraqiya breaks off all talks with State of Law in protest over Maliki describing the bloc as a Sunni grouping, which State of Law denies.

SEPTEMBER

– 25: Iraqiya announces it will not participate in a government led by Maliki.

OCTOBER

– 1: The National Alliance, the coalition made up of Maliki's bloc and the Iraqi National Alliance, chooses Maliki as its candidate for prime minister.

– 24: Iraq's supreme court orders the country's parliament to elect a new speaker.

NOVEMBER

– 1: Maliki obtains the support of the Shiite Fadila party.

– 8: Intense negotiations begin over a power-sharing agreement.

– 10: Political leaders announce they have reached a deal over the ethnic and sectarian make-up of the three main positions of government, the president, prime minister, and speaker of parliament.

– 11: Parliament holds just its second session since the election and chooses Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni and member of Iraqiya, as its speaker, and re-elects Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, as president. Talabani says he will name Maliki as prime minister.

– 25: Talabani officially re-appoints Maliki as prime minister and orders him to form a cabinet, which he must do within 30 days.

DECEMBER

– 20: Maliki submits an incomplete list of cabinet ministers to parliament.

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