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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Secret Ballot to Pick Chalabi or Al-Jafaari as Prime Minister |
| 2005-02-16 |
| Top Shiite politicians failed to reach a consensus Wednesday on their nominee for prime minister, shifting the two-man race to a secret ballot and exposing divisions in the winning alliance. After hours of closed-door meetings, members of the United Iraqi Alliance agreed to hold a secret ballot to choose between Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Ahmad Chalabi, most likely on Friday, said Ali Hashim al-Youshaa, one of the alliance's leaders. The contrast between the two candidates is stark and reveals a division within the clergy-endorsed alliance, made up of 10 major political parties and various allied smaller groups. Al-Jaafari, 58, is the leader of the religious Dawa Party, one of Iraq (news - web sites)'s oldest parties, known for its popularity and close ties to Iran. Although al-Jaafari is a moderate, his party's platform is conservative. Chalabi, 58, who left Iraq as a teen, leads the Iraqi National Congress and had close ties to the Pentagon (news - web sites) before falling out of favor last year after claims he passed intelligence information to Iran. A secular Shiite, Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress is an umbrella for groups that included Iraqi exiles, Kurds and Shiites. Much of the intelligence his group supplied on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction programs failed to pan out. Al-Jaafari was considered the leading contender Wednesday, though Chalabi's aides said their man had enough votes to win. Both candidates were expected to present their political agendas to alliance members before the secret vote, al-Youshaa said. The 140 lawmakers who will represent the alliance in the National Assembly, plus eight allied lawmakers, will decide who will be prime minister, al-Youshaa said. A close aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiite Muslims, said the alliance's leaders will visit the grand ayatollah's office in Najaf to get his blessing for their choice for prime minister. In the event they can't agree, al-Sistani will make the final decision, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity. |
| Posted by:sludj |
| #1 Fascinating. But where are these 8 latecomers from? |
| Posted by: someone 2005-02-16 7:54:50 PM |