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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Shi'ite politician and
former exile Ibrahim al-Jaafari emerged as the
front-runner Tuesday to become Iraq's new prime
minister as horse-trading to decide who gets what
job in the next government entered final stages.
Jaafari, a physician and father of five, is the
leader of the Dawa Party, one of two leading
religious parties in the United Iraqi Alliance, a
Shi'ite led group which won 48 percent of the vote
in Iraq's elections on Jan. 30.
"The competition is still fierce but it appears so
far that Jaafari will be the United Iraqi Alliance
candidate because Dawa is insisting on him," a
senior Shi'ite source told Reuters.
While short of the 60 percent the alliance had
expected, the win puts the coalition in a commanding
position to take the top job in the next government.
A two-thirds majority is needed in the newly elected
National Assembly to form a government.
The United Iraqi Alliance, which is blessed by top
Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is headed
by Dawa and the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), both of which opposed
Saddam Hussein from exile in Iran.
The source said SCIRI, headed by Abdel-Aziz
al-Hakim, had agreed to support Jaafari and withdraw
its candidate, Finance Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi,
"to preserve the unity of the alliance," which some
had feared could collapse after the vote.
But the source said a final deal was unlikely to be
concluded Tuesday as other details about the new
government, including who gets which ministries,
must still be worked out.
Analysts expect the Kurds, who took 25 percent of
the vote, to play a key role in the talks as Iraqis
look toward a reduction and eventual withdrawal of
U.S. troops.
The Kurds' powerful showing puts them in a kingmaker
role — if they ally with the Shi'ite alliance, the
pair would have more than two-thirds in the
assembly.
The Kurds have said they want Jalal Talabani, the
head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, to be
Iraq's president. If that is the case, they are
likely to support the Shi'ite list's choice for
prime minister.
While the Shi'ite bloc won slightly less than half
the vote, it could end up with about 140 seats in
the assembly — two more than a majority — once all
those votes that went to candidates who didn't get
enough to secure a seat are redistributed.
That could happen by the end of the week, provided
the final tally is certified Wednesday as expected.
The Kurds' second place showing means they will get
around 70 seats in the assembly. A list headed by
interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi came third and
will have about 40 seats.
Sunni Arabs, most of whom either boycotted the vote
or did not turn out because of violence, look set to
get barely five seats in the assembly, leaving
Iraq's once dominant minority out in the cold,
raising fresh fears of sectarian attacks.
POST-VOTE TENSIONS
There are also fears of a rise in ethnic tensions
around the divided northern city of Kirkuk, where
Kurds won about 60 percent of the local vote after
many Arabs and Turkmen, who also lay claim to the
oil-rich city, boycotted the election.
Violence continued to boil. The U.S. army said one
soldier died and three were hurt Monday when
guerrillas detonated a bomb as their combat convoy
patrolled near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of
Baghdad.
A provincial government official escaped an
assassination attempt in the same area, the Iraqi
National Guard said. They also reported that a
secondary gas pipeline north of Kirkuk was burning
after an insurgent attack. A school in Baghdad was
hit by a mortar round, but there were no casualties.
Security forces are on alert ahead of Ashura, one of
the holiest events in the Shi'ite calendar, paying
homage to Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet
Mohammed, who died in battle in 680 A.D.
Iraq will close its borders between Feb. 17 and Feb.
22 to prevent foreign pilgrims from flooding the
celebrations, which were targeted last year by
suicide bombers who killed 171 in Kerbala and
Baghdad.
Copyright 2005 Reuters News Service. All rights
reserved
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