|
Chalabi sez he's got the votes to become the new Iraqi PM
Controversial Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi says he believes he has the votes to become the war-torn country's new prime minister.Mr Chalabi, once supported by the United States only to fall from favour, is part of the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) list that won 140 seats of the 275-member national assembly in the January 30 elections. "I believe I have a majority of the [UIA] votes on my side right now" to become the new government's prime minister, Mr Chalabi told United States ABC television. However, the former exile remained cautious, saying the choice of premier "will be decided by the parliamentary bloc", which he did not want to "second guess". On Tuesday, sources in the Shiite coalition said it had chosen interim vice president and Dawa party leader Ibrahim Jaafari as its candidate for prime minister. Mr Chalabi said he was ready to cooperate if he were not picked to lead the government. "We want to change the way Iraq is governed," he said. "It will no longer be the government of a leader with everybody else not counting very much. "We want to have a cabinet form of executive authority in Iraq and I am perfectly willing to cooperate, as indeed are my other friends and colleagues who are competing for the job of prime minister, with any prime minister that will come out for the service of ... the country." Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-02-21 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=56990 |