A key player in any coalition building is likely to be Kurdish parties.

VOA: standard.2010.03.07

Mr.Talabani,who is an ethnic Kurd, and whose Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party (PUK) is the smaller of Kurdistan's two major parties, has been mediating between other Kurdish leaders to put an end to the terror activities of the Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK), which have long angered Ankara.

VOA: standard.2009.03.23

They're working together, the different Kurdish parties, and there's a kind of economic boom.

NPR: Kurds Weigh Future in Federated Iraq

So the two main Kurdish parties sent only junior representatives to the London meeting.

ECONOMIST: Saddam��s sleep of the unjust

The Kurdish parties are back as kingmakers but have a long list of tough demands still to be met.

ECONOMIST: Iraq's insurgency