DUBAI: Iraq's parliament has no immediate plan to hold a vote of no confidence in Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki's government, but his administration must work hard to keep its majority, Vice-President Adel Abdul-Mahdi said.

Maliki's 15-month-old government has been paralysed by infighting, derailing efforts to foster national reconciliation among warring Shi'ites and Sunnis.

Ministers from three political blocs, or nearly half of Al Maliki's cabinet, have quit, accusing him of sidelining them.

Some politicians have raised the idea of a no-confidence vote, but nothing concrete has happened.

Abdul-Mahdi, a fellow Shi'ite, said the government would continue but should keep an eye on shifting alliances in parliament and not take its waning support lightly.

"Parliament does not have any plans to withdraw confidence in the government, at least for now... Today, we back this government and hope it succeeds, but it must work hard," Abdul-Mahdi said in Dubai.

"There is a sort of splintering that it must monitor closely and seriously. It must not take lightly these withdrawals and the loss of a lot of the backing that it enjoyed in the beginning... If this decline continues, it will be threatened with not being able to garner majority support in parliament."

Abdul-Mahdi, one of two vice presidents, is a senior leader in the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), one of Iraq's biggest parties and a key member of the ruling Shi'ite Alliance.

The Alliance itself has come under strain, with one of its members, a faction loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, among the blocs to withdraw its ministers from the cabinet.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who visited Baghdad this month, said in recent comments published on the Web site of US magazine Newsweek that many people believed Al Maliki should be replaced, possibly by Abdul-Mahdi.