Baghdad, Iraq ? Iraq’s main Sunni Arab group made an unprecedented trip north to see the Kurds and agreed Monday for the first time on broad outlines for a coalition government – possibly opening a way out of the political turmoil that has gripped the country since disputed elections.

As part of the bargaining for a new coalition government, President Jalal Talabani assured Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari that his fellow Kurds would not object if the United Iraqi Alliance – the Shiite religious bloc that won the most votes in the election – again nominates him for the prime minister post.

But it was the agreement struck Monday by Kurdistan regional President Massoud Barzani and representatives of the main Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front that opened the way for a new government. It also drew the ire of minority parties and secular groups.

“They will be part of a future government,” said Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd who sat in on the meetings.

Sunni Arabs and secular parties, such as the one headed by Shiite former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, have complained the elections were tainted. They have demanded a new vote in some provinces.

With the agreement, the Accordance Front seems to have broken a pact to only discuss those complaints during their meetings with the Kurds. Opposition groups are waiting for a team of international monitors to assess the elections and examine the complaints, which number about 1,500. The U.N. has called the vote credible.

Accordance Front leaders Adnan al-Dulaimi and Tarek al-Hashimi discussed the shape of a future government with Barzani in Irbil, which in recent days has become a pilgrimage site for southern politicians. The leader of the Shiite religious bloc, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, visited last week.

The Accordance Front could be trying to cut out groups to form a government with the Shiite bloc and the Kurds.

A deal by the three groups – the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, the Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front and the Kurdish coalition – could go a long way toward quickly forming a government that would have widespread approval among Iraq’s three main ethnic and sectarian groups, leading to a decrease in violence from insurgents.