Baghdad ? Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Friday his Shiite coalition is close to forming a government and could announce a new coalition by next week, ending the country’s long-running political crisis.

“This is not going to be easily determined, but the progress of these talks indicates we have come to near the end of these negotiations,” Maliki told The Christian Science Monitor.

Speaking in his first interview since he received the key backing of hard-line cleric Muqtada al-Sadr last week, Maliki said he expects the results of negotiations with the Kurdish coalition and talks with the secular Iraqiya block to become clear in the next two to three days.

Although the most likely scenario appeared to involve an alliance with Ayad Allawi, whose Iraqiya coalition includes many Sunnis, it was still unclear whether Allawi would accept Maliki’s terms. The proposed alliance with Allawi also appeared to sideline the Kurds.

Iraqis went to the polls in March in the first national election since they regained full sovereignty, but forming a government that does not exclude major groups and risk re-igniting sectarian violence has proved agonizingly difficult. When none of the candidates won enough seats to form a majority in parliament, Maliki demanded and obtained a recount. Seven months after the election, negotiations have just recently swung into high gear.

Maliki, who is still more than 20 seats short of the 163-seat majority he needs in parliament, looks almost certain to be the next prime minister, unless his main Shiite rival Adel Abdul Mehdi can muster enough votes.

Recent reports have suggested that Allawi could be president rather than the prime minister’s post he maintains he is entitled to, but Maliki on Friday ruled that out.

“The presidency is essentially spoken for,” said Maliki, referring to the Kurdish claim to the position currently held by Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, saying they would have to relinquish the position. “Take it from me in full confidence — the Kurds will not forgo the position of president, and the president will be Jalal Talabani.”

Instead, he said they were offering Allawi the position of head of a powerful new body named the National Council for Strategic Studies, a decision-making body, as well as the position of speaker of parliament and a share of key ministries for members of Iraqiya.

Maliki said all the parties had rejected a proposal made to them by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden under which Talabani would become a special ambassadorial envoy, Allawi would be named president and Maliki would remain prime minister. American officials have publicly said the United States has not promoted any plan but privately have made clear that they will back any government that includes Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites.

The war that toppled Saddam Hussein also paved the way for Iraq’s Shiite majority to take power for the first time — sending shock waves throughout the region and within the country’s traditional Sunni political elite. The U.S. decision to disband the Iraqi army and outlaw the Baath party is blamed for fueling the insurgency. Maintaining a balance of power between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds is seen as the key to Iraq holding together.