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ARBIL,
Iraq (Reuters) - Jalal Talabani, one of Iraq's
two top Kurdish leaders, will be the candidate for
Iraq's prime minister or president if a Kurd is
chosen to hold either position following elections,
his rival says.
"We have agreed that Talabani is going to be the
Kurds' candidate for one of the key posts in
Baghdad, either the presidency or the prime
minister," Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan
Democratic Party, said on Thursday.
"We will not accept other than that."
Talabani is head of the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan, the other main Kurdish political party.
Together the two parties represent about 90 percent
of people in the Kurdish northern regions of Iraq.
The two parties, who fought a civil war in the
1990s, formed an alliance to contest the elections.
The Kurdish alliance is widely expected to come
second or third in the elections, with a Shi'ite
bloc certain to win.
Kurds represent about 15 percent of Iraq's 27
million strong population. They are mainly based in
three northern provinces close to the Turkish and
Iranian borders.
Turnout in Sunday's historic election is believed to
have been very strong in the Kurdish region and the
Kurds are expected to be powerful players when it
comes to determining who takes the top positions in
Iraq's next government.
Final results from the poll are not expected to be
known for at least another week. Once the results
are known, a 275-member National Assembly will be
inaugurated and then a government formed.
The government will comprise a presidential council
of a president and two vice presidents, who will
then decide on a prime minister and a cabinet of
ministers.
Much of the horse-trading to determine the top four
positions -- presidents and prime minister -- is
expected to take place in the days ahead, as the
final results of the election are being determined.
It was expected that a Shi'ite, representing Iraq's
60 percent Shi'ite majority, would take the position
of prime minister, as is the case with the current
interim government.
But in recent days it has been suggested that a Kurd
might take that role, or the position of president
-- currently held by an Arab Sunni Muslim --
creating uncertainty about the final structure of
Iraq's first post-Saddam Hussein elected government.
© Reuters 2005
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