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Leading
candidate for the premiership extends his hand to
Sunnis and radical Shia.
Interim vice-president Ibrahim al-Jaafari, leading
candidate for the post of Iraqi prime minister, this
week declared his desire to build political bridges
by insisting that Sunnis, who largely boycotted the
elections, should be included in government along
with the Shia firebrand Muqtada al-Sadr.
Jaafari spoke to reporters after a February 17 press
conference by the Independent Electoral Commission
of Iraq, IECI, which certified the results of the
January 30 elections for the 275-member National
Assembly.
The IECI said the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shia-led
bloc of which Jaafari is part, will have 140 seats;
The Kurdish Alliance List, made up of the two major
Kurdish parties, 75; and the Iraqi List, led by
interim premier Ayad Allawi, 40.
The remaining 20 seats will be divvied up between
nine parties, including al-Iraqiyun ("The Iraqis",
the party led by interim president Ghazi al-Yawar
which is to receive five seats.
The assembly's main task will be to draft a
permanent constitution that will be put before the
public in an October referendum.
No parties received the two-thirds majority
necessary to rule without a coalition partner and
Jaafari's comments reflected that reality. His Shia-led
bloc will have to form a coalition, perhaps with the
Kurdish Alliance, in order to have the required
majority necessary to approve measures.
Jaafari, who heads the Islamic Dawa Party, expressed
his willingness to cooperate with the other
political groups and said Sunnis, who largely stayed
home on election day, needed to be included in
government.
"We respect all those who boycotted the elections
and we will prove to them that we will deal with
them," said Jaafari, 58, a doctor who fled from Iraq
in 1980 and lived in London until Saddam Hussein was
overthrown. "The constitution won't be complete if
the Sunnis don't participate."
He also said he welcomed the prospect of non-Shia
holding the posts of president and parliamentary
speaker. The Kurdish Alliance has put forward Jalal
Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan,
for the former job and it has been suggested the
Sunnis will be offered the latter.
The National Assembly will choose a president and
two deputy presidents, which will then in turn
choose a prime minister.
Jaafari reiterated that he wanted Muqtada al-Sadr,
the young cleric whose supporters have fought the
American military in the past, to be a part of the
new Iraq.
The National Independent Elites and Cadres Party,
which includes supporters of Sadr, will have three
seats in the parliament.
"Iraq's political field is open for all Iraqis,
including the Sadr movement," said Jaafari. "The
Sadr movement has a long history and it has made
sacrifices and taken firm stands. That's why I
addressed this issue and say in a direct way that
Muqtada al-Sadr can participate in the political
process in establishing Iraq's new political house."
This desire to have Sadr in the government may be a
reflection of Jaafari's religious beliefs, as he is
seen by some as being more conservative than other
candidates for the prime minister post, including
interim finance minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and Ahmed
Chalabi, a secular Shia and former American ally.
Mahdi, who belongs to the other major Shia party in
the United Iraqi Alliance, the Supreme Council of
Islamic Revolution in Iraq, withdrew his name from
the running so as to prevent cracks in the bloc, and
Chalabi is seen as a long-shot candidate.
Jaafari has said that Islam should be used as one of
the sources of legislation, but that concept is
likely to face opposition from the Kurds, who want a
secular state.
Still, Adnan Mufti, a member of the political bureau
of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said Jaafari
was an acceptable candidate for the post of prime
minister.
"The United Iraqi Alliance have said they don't want
to establish an Islamic state," said Mufti. "And
their list includes figures who believe in
federalism."
Zaineb Naji is an IWPR trainee journalist in
Baghdad.
www.iwpr.net
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