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BAGHDAD, Feb 23 (AFP) - 11h33 - Kurdish groups
and a Sunni Arab party said Wednesday they were
ready to cooperate with Ibrahim Jaafari, who has
been anointed by the election-winning Shiite list as
its candidate for prime minister.
"We hope Jaafari will form a transitional government
as soon as possible with leading politicians," an
official from Massud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) told AFP.
"We will support him and assist him," said Mohammed
Ihsan, who serves as the Kurdish party's human
rights minister.
Jaafari, currently one of Iraq's two vice presidents
and head of the Shiite party Dawa, was tapped for
the premiership by the United Iraqi Alliancethat won
140 of the 275 seats in the National Assembly.
"Jaafari has a long track record of fighting against
the dictatorship, he believes in the rights of the
Kurdish people and in a democratic and federal
Iraq," Ihsan added.
"Besides, he is not among the most dogmatic Shiite
politicians and is in the current context the best
candidate for the job."
Ihsan (eds: correct) voiced his desire to speed up
negotiations on the makeup of the new executive,
saying there was already an arrangement between the
various parties for Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
chief Jalal Talabani to be granted the presidency.
The Kurdish ticket grouping the KDP and PUK won a
quarter of the votes in the January 30 elections and
is poised to be the second largest force in
parliament, with 75 seats.
An Islamic Kurdish party will bring the Kurdish bloc
another two seats.
An official from the party of Sunni Arab elder
statesman Adnan Pachachi also welcomed the
nomination of Jaafari.
"It is natural the winning list should push for its
candidate to take the post and this nomination was
the result of discussions, which is a good sign,"
said Jalal Mashta.
"We are ready to cooperate with him and this has
always been Mr Pachachi's position," he told AFP.
The official urged Jaafari to deliver on his pledge
to include the ousted Sunni Arab elite in the next
phase of the political process, during which a
permanent constitution will have to be drafted.
"He should take into account the fact that turnout
was very low in some provinces, some forces did not
take part in the elections and others were not able
to have any deputies voted in to parliament despite
a long political history," Mashta said.
Sunni Arab participation in the vote was very low,
due to boycott calls by Sunni leaders, fear of
insurgent reprisals or general disenchantment with
the political process with US troops still deployed
in the country.
The secular Sunni party of Pachachi -- who was once
tipped as a possible leader in post-war Iraq --
failed to win even a single seat in parliament.
"All these aspects should be taken into
consideration in order for the next government to be
able to lead the country through the difficult phase
which awaits the country and find answers to the
issues of security and the presence of foreign
troops," Mashta said.
Some Iraqi newspapers were also positive about the
appointment of Jaafari, with the independent daily
Al-Furat calling him "authentically Iraqi" and a
"patriot".
The newspaper Baghdad of outgoing Prime Minister
Iyad Allawi's group only reported the nomination
without any commentary.
AFP
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