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IRBIL,
Iraq
Kurdish leaders from rival factions in northern Iraq
have united in hopes of winning a large bloc of
seats in Sunday's National Assembly vote and say
they will insist that either the presidency or the
prime minister's job goes to a Kurd.
The two top positions in Iraq's interim government
are currently held by a Shiite Muslim and a Sunni
Arab, the country's two largest communities.
But observers say the presidency, a largely
ceremonial post that will be chosen by the 275-seat
assembly could go to a Kurd, possibly Jalal Talabani,
leader of one of the two major Kurdish groups. His
rival, Massoud Barzani, who heads the Kurdistan
Democratic Party, appears to have given his consent.
The two rivals, who have run the Kurdish north in
separate fiefdoms the last 14 years, have put aside
their decades-long differences in favor of a common
goal: to ensure their demand for a federal state is
enshrined in the constitution that will be drafted
by the National Assembly this year.
The two factions are running as a coalition on the
same ticket in Sunday's vote for the National
Assembly. The alliance is made necessary, Kurdish
leaders say, to make certain Kurds will have a voice
in uncertain times.
Israel - Jerusalem Post
http://www.jpost.com
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