Iraq’s Prime Minister said today that he was willing to withdraw his nomination for a second term in office if asked to step aside for the good of the country.

Ibrahim al-Jaafari made his offer as the new Iraqi parliament convened for the first time, amidst political deadlock over forming a government of national unity that could deal with the rising sectarian violence in Iraq.

One of the main sticking points to forming a government is the objections to Mr al-Jaafari continuing as Prime Minister. "If my people ask me to step aside I will do this," Mr al-Jaafari told a news conference the parliament's brief, 30-minute opening session.

Mr Jaafari, who has been criticised by Kurds and Sunnis for failing to curb violence by Shia paramilitaries, has also come under mounting pressure from some of his partners within the ruling Shia Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament.

His nomination as the next Prime Minister was passed in an internal ballot by a single vote, but he has the backing of Hojetoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical cleric and the head of a powerful militia.

In his comments, Mr al-Jaafari did not specify who he was referring to when he said "my people." In previous public comments, he has said he had no plans at all to resign.

The streets of Baghdad were quiet today with vehicle traffic barred to keep car bombers at bay, while police and army units multiplied their checkpoints across the city. Civil servants were told to take the day off and many other residents stayed at home, fearing attacks by insurgents bent on proving that the caretaker government cannot guarantee security.

Earlier, police reported the discovery of 27 more bodies discarded in various parts of Baghdad overnight, victims of the sectarian violence that has swept Iraqi cities since bombers destroyed an important Shia shrine last month.

The victims were all men, some with their hands bound, who had been shot execution-style and dumped in both Shia and Sunni Muslim suburbs, officials said.

The 275 members of parliament, elected on December 15, were sworn in a televised ceremony behind blast walls and razor wire in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone. The session, attended by the outgoing president, Jalal Talabani, began with recitations from the Koran.

The new parliament is the first elected to a full four-year term since Saddam was deposed in 2003, and will again be dominated by the Shia United Iraqi Alliance which can count on the support of 130 MPs. The Kurdish coalition has 53 seats, while various Sunni parties control at least 55 seats. Secular-based and minority parties hold the remaining seats.

All factions, egged on by US authorities, have called for a broad-based government of national unity, but have so far failed to agree on who should lead the next cabinet.

Mr Talabani suggested today that the long-awaited cabinet should be ready by the end of March, a conclusion deemed overly optimistic by rival politicians. Mr al-Jaafari estimated that forming the cabinet would take a little longer. "I think a month is enough to form a government, if we keep to the constitution," he told state television.

Other politicians, however, have cast doubt that a new government is imminent, noting that deep divides remained, not least over the Shias' desire for Mr Jaafari to remain prime minister.

"I don’t expect to see a new government before May," said one participant in the leaders’ conference, Hassan Shumari, from the United Iraqi Alliance.

The deadlock is all the more worrying as a surge in sectarian violence has left hundreds dead since the destruction on February 22 of the Golden Mosque, a famed Shia shrine in Samarra.

In Washington yesterday, the commander of US forces in the Middle East, told Congress that Iraq was still "an awful long ways" from civil war. But General John Abizaid acknowledged that the danger of a wider conflict grew without agreement on a national unity government.

"The longer the government takes to develop, the less confidence there’ll be within the security forces" that unity will be maintained, he said.

The United States has dispatched a battalion of soldiers - about 700 troops - from the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armoured Division to Iraq from its base in Kuwait to provide extra security for Shia holy cities as tens of thousands of pilgrims converge for a major religious commemoration that has been a target for insurgents in the past.

Monday marks the end of the 40-day mourning period to mark the death in AD680 of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was killed in what is now Karbala in present-day Iraq. The day will also mark the third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003.

Times Recommends

• A track to Shangri-La: Bhutan gets first rail link
• Avatar takings hit $600m in ten days
• Bomb disposal squad is Times’s Team of the Year