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Iraqi assembly vote would push out al-Jaafari
6.4.2006
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BAGHDAD (AP)--The
Iraqi parliament may have to decide Prime Minister
Ibrahim al-Jaafari's future, President Jalal
Talabani said in an interview published Wednesday.
Talabani, a Kurd and an al-Jaafari opponent, told
the Saudi daily Al Madina: "Consultations are taking
place quickly," Talabani said.
"We hope they will not take much longer than this,
and if the (Shiites) stick by their stand on
nominating Ibrahim al-Jaafari, then we will resort
to parliament."
However, it was unclear how parliament could legally
resolve the standoff. The constitution states that
the president must nominate the candidate of the
largest bloc - the Shiites. The prime
minister-designate then presents his Cabinet to
parliament for approval by a majority of all 275
members.
Under the constitution, however, parliament must
first elect a new president and two vice presidents
by two-thirds vote. With Talabani's term also
ending, it is unclear whether he would have the
authority to appoint a prime minister, and the
Shiites could block his re-election.
Al-Jaafari said in an interview with a U.K.
newspaper published Wednesday that he was refusing
to abandon his bid for a second term to break the
deadlock over a new government, and some Iraqi
leaders said . |
Iraqi
President : Jalal Talabani
Photo: Reuters
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari |
However, Shiite officials said they are reluctant to
dump the issue on parliament until there is a
comprehensive deal among all ethnic- and
religious-based parties, including an agreement on
who will be the new president.
That indicated little or no progress has been made
in resolving the standoff over the new government
since U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw flew to Baghdad
last weekend and insisted that Iraqis agree on a new
leadership quickly.
U.S. officials believe a broad-based government of
Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds offers the only hope
for reversing Iraq's slide into anarchy. Without
such a government, the U.S. can't begin withdrawing
its troops.
Talks on a new unity government stalled after Sunni
Arab and Kurdish officials said they wouldn't accept
al-Jaafari, who won the nomination of the dominant
Shiite bloc in balloting among Shiite lawmakers last
February.
Al-Jaafari told The Guardian newspaper that he was
rejecting calls to give up the nomination of his
Shiite bloc "to protect democracy in Iraq."
"There is a decision that was reached by a
democratic mechanism and I stand with it," he told
the newspaper. "We have to respect our Iraqi
people."
Al-Jaafari added that the Iraqi people "will react
if they see the rules of democracy being disobeyed.
Everyone should stick to democratic mechanisms no
matter whether they disagree with the person."
During an interview Tuesday with the British
Broadcasting Corp., Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi
said he met with al-Jaafari the day before and urged
him to give up the nomination to break the logjam.
But Abdul-Mahdi said al-Jaafari refused, insisting
he wanted to take his case to parliament.
Because of those legal uncertainties, several Shiite
officials said they were reluctant to take the issue
to parliament. One described the current standoff as
a crisis and said "nobody sees a way out."
AP
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