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WASHINGTON, March 30 (Saba) -- US Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill said on Tuesday that it is hard to predict the shape of the next Iraqi government, while defending the United Nations performance in the recent national elections, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

"I should say that the issue of constructing a government, the issue of putting together broader coalitions in order to get over 50 percent of the seats in the parliament has already begun. And everybody is talking to everybody. There is every imaginable combination," said Hill in a videoconference from Baghdad.

"Our view is that this was indeed a very creditable election process. So we would not share any criticism of the United Nations. On the contrary, we are quite supportive of what the UN did," he added.

Hill noted that Iraq "is not Lebanon and there are some real differences in Iraq from Lebanon in the procedures of the vote. There is a lot of differences in the sort of historical antecedents that got us to this vote.

" He added that all of Iraqs neighbors "weighed in one form or the other" in the national elections saying "I think we have made very clear that we want Iraq to have good relations with its neighbors; it is just that its neighbors are going to have to do a better job of respecting Iraq's sovereignty."

Hill noted that "most of Iraq's neighbors have refrained from any inflammatory statements" and mentioned that the number of fighters crossing the Syrian border into Iraq reached "a low level" but the US talks with Syria about its role on Iraq "remains a work in progress."

He argued that the Kurds would play a very important role as they get to the key question of putting coalitions together to assure not only a bare majority but rather "I would think that a new government would try to make that a much stronger majority than just 163."

Hill said that since Shiite leader Muqtada Al-Sadr is in Qom in Iran, "we have not seen any sign that he wants to play any kind of direct role in the political process here."

Saba