Prime ministerial candidate withdraws
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – The contest to be Iraq’s next prime minister narrowed Tuesday after the French-educated finance minister removed himself from consideration in the ranks of the Shiite alliance, making it a two-man race, party spokesmen said. The United Iraqi Alliance, which has provisionally won more than half the seats in the new National Assembly, has been left with two main contenders, interim Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Ahmad Chalabi, the former Pentagon favorite.
Representatives for both men claimed their candidate was the front-runner.
“There is almost a general consensus between most of the main political parties in the alliance on the nomination of Ibrahim al-Jaafari,” said Adnan Ali, his chief of staff.
Ali said there would be no announcement for two days.
Hussein al-Mousawi, a spokesman for the Shiite Political Council, an umbrella group for 38 Shiite political parties, said Chalabi would most likely be the next prime minister.
Al-Mousawi said 80 of the estimated 140 alliance members expected to take part in the newly elected National Assembly favored Chalabi.
Finance Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi agreed to withdraw as a candidate in return for unspecified concessions, said Humam Hamoudi, a spokesman for the alliance, who said al-Jaafari was most likely to be its candidate.
Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s party came a distant third in the Jan. 30 polling, and it was not clear what role he would have, since the Shiite alliance, which brings together a number of Shiite political parties, seems determined to place one of their own in the powerful post.
Alliance representatives met Tuesday with their religious leaders in the holy city of Najaf to discuss the choice for premier.
An aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraqi Shiites, said that so far, “official and unofficial delegations arrived in Najaf and left without reaching any agreements.”
They were to return Wednesday to continue talks, the aide said, on condition of anonymity.
The clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance won 48 percent of the vote for the National Assembly, the Kurdish alliance won 26 percent, and Allawi, a secular Shiite who supported strong ties to Washington, won only 14 percent. That could make the Kurds, who like the Shiites were oppressed under Saddam Hussein, the kingmakers in the new Iraq.
The Kurds already have said they want Jalal Talabani, a Sunni Kurd and leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, to be president. No other candidates have stepped forward.
The National Assembly’s first task is to elect a president and two vice presidents by a two-thirds majority. The three then choose a new prime minister, subject to assembly approval. All the top positions are expected to be worked out in advance.
Both al-Jaafari, a physician who lived in London before serving on the now-disbanded Iraqi Governing Council, and Chalabi would give the new Shiite-dominated government a Western accent.
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the turbaned cleric who led the alliance ticket and who has close links to Iran, has said he’s not interested in the job. Al-Hakim commanded the Iran-based Badr Brigade militia during Saddam’s time.
Should Chalabi assume the post, it will be the culmination of a turbulent period dating from the U.S.-led invasion on Iraq when he was first a favorite with the U.S. administration, then fell out of favor. His popularity with ordinary Iraqis has also fluctuated.
The provisional results have yet to be certified by the election commission pending challenges and complaints. On Tuesday, a commission official said at least six complaints had been filed. All must be filed by Wednesday and the results are not final until the complaints are resolved.
Alliance spokesman Hamoudi said that the prime ministerial candidate would be chosen on his ability to unite the splintering population.
“We want the new government to be a joint government, which will include the other parties and political entities that did not participate in the elections,” he said, a reference to the Shiites’ determination to draw in Sunnis already alienated in postwar Iraq.