Sunni-backed slate returns to work in Iraq BAGHDAD, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The Sunni-backed Iraqiya slate said ti was ending its boycott of the Iraqi Parliament ahead of a planned national conference, a spokeswoman said. Iraqiya last month suspended its membership in the Iraqi legislative assembly after Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi arrested on terrorism charges. Iraqiya leaders last weekend announced they'd return to legislative sessions in preparation for a national conference later this year. "Iraqiya also resolved to allow its members to consider, on a later stage, the return of its ministers to Cabinet sessions," a spokeswoman for the Sunni-backed alliance was quoted by Iraqi satellite channel al-Sumaria as saying. Former interim Prime Minister and Iraqiya leader Iyad Allawi told the Voices of Iraq news agency before the announcement that "we do not have democracy (in Iraq), we have no stability and the government should have been based on a genuine partnership." Iraqiya won parliamentary elections in 2010 but was unable to pull together a majority to form a government. Political disputes in Iraq erupted almost as soon as U.S. military forces pulled out of the country last year under the terms of a 2008 status of forces agreement.