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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Shi'ite alliance
expected to win a commanding victory in Iraq's
election will insist one of its members is appointed
the country's next prime minister, a senior official
in the alliance said on Saturday.
"Shi'ites want the prime ministership, we are
insisting on it and will not give it up," Deputy
Foreign Minister Hamed al-Bayati told Reuters.
Bayati is a senior official in the Supreme Council
for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).
SCIRI is a key player in the United Iraqi Alliance,
a group of mainly Islamist parties that won strong
support from Iraq's 60 percent Shi'ite majority in
last Sunday's elections. If the alliance demands the
prime ministership, it will be a blow to Prime
Minister Iyad Allawi who had hoped to be picked
again as a compromise candidate.
"The United Iraqi Alliance list has some candidates.
The names are not finally agreed on yet because they
are still discussing the qualifications and
conditions of the prime minister," Bayati said.
Among those under consideration are Deputy President
Ibrahim Jaafari, leader of the Dawa party which is
part of the alliance, as well as SCIRI official Adel
Abdul Mahdi, who is finance minister, and Ahmad
Chalabi.
Sources in the Alliance say Jaafari and Mahdi have a
stronger chance of being named their prime
ministerial candidate than Chalabi, who has fallen
out of favor with Washington and has been involved
in public rows with some Iraqi officials.
On Thursday, the main Kurdish bloc, expected to come
second or third in the election, said it would
demand that its candidate Jalal Talabani, head of
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, should be either
president or prime minister.
Bayati said the name of the president must be agreed
between the three main ethnic and religious groups
-- Shi'ites, Kurds and Sunni Arabs. If the Kurds got
the presidency, a Sunni Arab could be named head of
the new National Assembly, he said.
"The name of the president has to be agreed on
between Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds, but if the Kurds
want this post they have to please the Sunnis and
agree with them on that," he said.
The elections will determine the composition of a
275- member National Assembly that must in turn
agree on a president and two vice presidents. These
officials must then agree on a prime minister and
appoint a cabinet.
Bayati said talks were already being held to discuss
ministerial posts in the new government.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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