Iraq's political leaders were set to meet on Saturday to try to end an impasse that has stymied national reconciliation efforts and left Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's national unity government in tatters.
Maliki is under growing pressure from the United States, which is frustrated by negligible political progress while its troops are fighting and dying in intense summer heat to buy time for Iraqis to agree a real powersharing deal.
The leaders of Iraq's Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds are unlikely to agree on all or many of the thorny issues up for discussion, but the make-or-break summit is likely to show whether they can finally put aside loyalty to sect or ethnic group to work together in the national interest.
A new alliance formed by the leading Shi'ite and Kurdish parties lacks credibility because they could not persuade any Sunni Arab parties to join it, observers said.
The summit will bring together Maliki, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, Shi'ite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, and Masoud Barzani, president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
"There is a possibility that the meeting could happen today to discuss the political situation," Rida Jawad al-Takki, a senior member of the ruling Shi'ite Alliance, told Reuters.
Two government officials, who declined to be named, confirmed that the meeting was due to take place on Saturday, possibly at 4 pm (1200 GMT).
"This week may witness a significant step which may help in solving the problems," one of the officials said.
The summit follows a series of meetings this week which led to the formation of a new alliance between the four leading Shi'ite and Kurdish parties, a cross-sectarian voting bloc in parliament aimed, said Maliki, at "shaking the political paralysis".
