BAGHDAD - Iraq's new national unity government was sworn into office Tuesday, ending nine months of paralyzing political deadlock that at times had threatened to unravel Iraq's fragile new democracy, The Washington Post reports.

A special gathering of the nation's parliament endorsed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a second term in office, with lawmakers then voting one by one for 31 of the eventual 42 ministers who will be in his cabinet.

Although Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds were represented in the previous government, this is the first time that all the major factions have been included, lending hope that Iraq can put behind it the bitter sectarian struggles and divisive politics of the past five years.

Reconciliation was the watchword as all the leading figures who have dominated Iraqi politics since the fall of Saddam Hussein gathered in the chamber, embracing, shaking hands and congratulating one another.

Ayad Allawi, the secular Shiite leader whose mostly Sunni Iraqiya bloc narrowly beat Maliki into second place in elections in March and who had long insisted that he should be named prime minister, pledged cooperation with the new government and called for a new era of "real reconciliation."

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