BAGHDAD — Iraq’s deputy premier is calling for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to step down, warning that the country’s festering political crisis risks sparking a wider sectarian regional conflict.

In an interview today, Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq stood by an earlier charge that Iraq is becoming a new dictatorship under al-Maliki, and he said Iraqis could eventually rise up violently if al-Maliki remains in power.

Al-Mutlaq’s Sunni-backed Iraqiya party has been boycotting parliament and Cabinet meetings since last month to protest what it sees as efforts by al-Maliki, a Shiite, to consolidate power, particularly over the country’s security forces.

The protest is fueling fears of a new sectarian rift that could destabilize Iraq now that U.S. troops have left.