BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi lawmakers ended a chaotic session today without agreeing on who would serve as their speaker, exposing deep divides among the National Assembly's diverse members.

The short session - mostly held behind closed doors after a nearly three-hour delay - adjourned until this weekend.

Hussein al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric and member of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's coalition, said the parliament speaker likely would be chosen Sunday, giving Sunni Arab lawmakers time to come up with a candidate.

"We saw that things were confused today, so we gave them a last chance," al-Sadr said. "We expect the Sunni Arab brothers to nominate their candidate. Otherwise, we will vote on a candidate on Sunday."

Nearly two months after Iraq's historic Jan. 30 elections, negotiations to form a new government have stalled over Cabinet posts and how to include the fragile nation's Sunni minority - dominant under former dictator Saddam Hussein and believed to make up the core of the ongoing insurgency.

The bickering exposed tensions in the newly formed parliament, with Allawi storming out of the session, followed by interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab who turned down the speaker's job.

"What are we going to tell the citizens who sacrificed their lives and cast ballots on Jan. 30?" al-Sadr said earlier.

Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni representatives were trying to come up with a Sunni Arab candidate that legislators promised would be announced during today's session.

Once it began, however, lawmakers immediately began arguing over whether to delay their decision, and the leader of the session decided to kick reporters and cameras out and close the meeting to the public.

"We demand to know the details of what's happening behind the scenes!" one woman shouted before the live television feed of the gathering went blank.

Sunni Arab lawmaker Meshaan al-Jubouri called for a decision, saying: "There are voices calling for electing the speaker today. This cannot be."

"This is ridiculous," he said as he left the meeting hall.

Negotiators were lobbying al-Yawer to take the speaker's job.

"We have apologized for practical reasons," said al-Yawer, who is seeking one of the country's two vice presidential spots. "With the small number of Sunni Arabs in the assembly, this post won't put us in a position to strike a balance."

Critics of the process say the Sunni Arab candidates being discussed for government posts have no influence on the insurgency, and their participation is unlikely to affect it.

Some explosions were heard in Baghdad today, where officials had warned residents to prepare for stepped up insurgent attacks. It was unclear if they caused any damage. During the first National Assembly meeting, on March 16, militants lobbed mortar rounds at the heavily fortified Green Zone in the city's center, where lawmakers held their meeting.

Violence also continued in the rest of the country, with a car bombing in the northern city of Kirkuk that killed one person and injured more than a dozen others, police said.

Three Romanian journalists were kidnapped, the television station employing two of them said today. The Romanian Embassy in Baghdad confirmed the three were missing but refused to give more information. Romania has about 800 troops in Iraq.

The Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdish coalition, which finished first and second in the landmark elections, have reached out to the Sunnis and to members of Allawi's coalition, hoping to form an inclusive national unity government.

But haggling over the level of participation of the Sunnis, as well as jockeying for Cabinet posts and efforts to resolve differences between the various groups, have left Iraq without a government almost two months after the 275-member National Assembly was elected. Lawmakers have until mid-August to draft a permanent constitution.

The assembly will name a president and two deputies, who in turn will nominate a prime minister. The presidency is expected to go to Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani and the prime minister's post to Shiite politician Ibrahim al-Jaafari - but the exact timeline is unclear.