Iraq's National Assembly is set to hold its first meeting ten days from now, whether a new government is named or not.

The country's three main political parties have failed to form a ruling coalition in the five weeks since elections were held. Some Iraqis have expressed frustration that the new National Assembly has not yet taken on the governance of the country.

An Iraqi official says the assembly will convene with or without an agreement on who will be the country's prime minister.

The March 16 date for the session marks the anniversary of a chemical weapon attack by former president Saddam Hussein's forces on the Kurdish town of Halabja. An estimated five thousand people died in the 1988 attack.