Iraqi Premier Allows Vote That Could End Deadlock
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/20/world/mi...20cnd-iraq.html By KIRK SEMPLE and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
Published: April 20, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 20 — Under intense pressure from across the Iraqi political spectrum, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari today dropped his bid to retain his job, apparently breaking a political deadlock that had stymied the formation of a new government and created a power vacuum in which lawlessness had thrived.
In a letter to members of the United Iraqi Alliance, the dominant Shiite bloc that nominated him in February, Mr. Jaafari said, "I return this choice to you to take the action you deem appropriate, and you will find me absolutely ready to cooperate with your choice to protect the unity of the United Iraqi Alliance."
Shiite political leaders met throughout the day to deliberate on new nominees; as the largest bloc in Parliament, they have the constitutional right to name the prime minister. Alliance members said a meeting of the full membership — 130 representatives — had been called for Saturday morning.
The acting speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Adnan Pachachi, postponed a meeting of the 275-member assembly until Saturday afternoon to allow more time for negotiations.
"I believe that we will succeed in forming the national unity government the people are waiting for," Mr. Pachachi said at a news conference at the National Assembly building in the fortified Green Zone.
Mr. Jaafari's capitulation could signal the end of a tense,two-month-long political stalemate during which the legislature becameinert, the civil sector slowed and sectarian violence exploded.Mr. Jaafari won the nomination in February by a single vote in a secret ballot among the Shiites, in part because of support from the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr. But his nomination triggered a groundswell of opposition among Sunni Arab, Kurdish, secular and even some Shiite leaders in Parliament, who criticized him for effete leadership that had failed to improve public services or stem the surge in violence.
Mr. Jaafari, however, remained defiant. As recently as Wednesday, he firmly declared at a news conference that he would not relinquish his job.
It remained unclear why Mr. Jaafari gave in so suddenly today. Some officials speculated that the possibility of a Kurdish and Sunni Arab attempt to form a competing coalition and nominate their own candidate was a factor. But other politicans, noting that the Kurds and Sunni Arabs are bitter enemies in flashpoint northern cities including Kirkuk and Mosul, saw that possibility as extraordinarily remote.
Mahmoud Othman, a member of Parliament and senior official in the Kurdish political alliance, said it appeared that the Shiite clerical leadership in Najaf, particularly the country's most influential Shiite cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, had forced Mr. Jaafari's hand.
"Jaafari resisted as long as he could, but he reached the point where he couldn't resist any more because of the pressure he had from Najaf," he said.
The Shiites have also come under steady pressure from the American government to resolve the dispute, including a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier this month. American officials have made it clear to the Shiites that they preferred a replacement for Mr. Jaafari because of his close ties to Mr. Sadr, who commands a feisty militia, and his relationship with Iran, where he lived for many years in exile.
Though it remains a possibility that the Shiites could again throw their weight behind Mr. Jaafari, support for him within the bloc has eroded over the past two months. The most likely possibility is that the bloc will choose another candidate from Mr. Jaafari's political party, the Islamic Dawa Party, according to Khalid al-Atiya, an independent member of the bloc. Earlier this week, Shiite leaders agreed that Dawa could nominate a candidate if it withdrew Mr. Jaafari's candidacy.
Shiite politicians have in recent days mentioned two party deputies inside Dawa as possible replacements — Jawad al-Maliki, an outspoken and highly visible member of Parliament; and Ali al-Adeeb, a longtime party official and aide to Mr. Jaafari.
Haider al-Abadi, a top aide to Mr. Jaafari and a former minister of telecommunications under the Iraqi Governing Council, also emerged as a potential candidate on today following Mr. Jaafari's announcement.
Several political leaders said the most popular candidate appears to be Mr. Adeeb, though he remains a largely unknown political entity. He "seems to be the front-runner right now," said Mr. Pachachi, who is a secular Sunni Arab. " I don't know much about him and lot of people don't know much about him."
Mr. Othman said Mr. Adeeb "looks more acceptable to most people."
Mr. Maliki, according to Mr. Pachachi, is "much better known but many people feel perhaps that he is more abrasive."
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, suggested at a joint news conference with other leaders that the opposition blocs would not oppose the Shiite bloc's next nominee.
"The Alliance is free to choose its candidate and we respect the Alliance and its will," he said. "Whoever will be the candidate of the Alliance, we will approve it."
He also expressed confidence that the disputes over the top government jobs — including the president, speaker of the assembly and cabinet — could be quickly overcome.
"We have agreed on the framework, we just need to work out some minor details now," he said. "There will be a friendly atmosphere and there will be a national unity government."
He was flanked by several prominent politicians representing the Shiite, Sunni Arab, Kurdish and independent blocs. All spoke in the kind of optimistic terms that have been mostly absent in the recent political debate.
"We think this is a remarkable change in the stand of Dr. Jaafari to solve this crisis and the ball is now in the court of the United Iraqi Alliance," said Tariq al-Hashemi, the head of the largest Sunni bloc, the Iraqi Consensus Front.
But away from the microphones, political leaders cautioned today that even if the matter of prime minister is settled soon, other fights still lay ahead, including a battle over an acceptable candidate to be National Assembly speaker.
The first order of business for Parliament at its next session will likely be the selection of the speaker and his two deputies by an absolute majority. The post is expected to go to a Sunni Arab, and today, the Iraqi Consensus Front voted to nominate Mahmoud al-Mashhadani for the post, Mr. Mashhadani said in a telephone interview.
But two senior Kurdish political officials said in interviews today that Mr. Mashhadani was not acceptable.
"We don't prefer him. We think he's very much ideological and extremist," said one of the officials, Mr. Othman. "We prefer somebody more moderate."
Mr. Mashhadani was considered a compromise candidate by the Sunnis, who had wanted to put forward Mr. Hashemi. But the Shiites considered Mr. Hashemi too sectarian and he bowed out of the running several days ago.
At the joint news conference today, Mr. Hashemi said his willingness to step aside should encourage the Shiite alliance to move quickly, too.
"The candidates have to enjoy the agreement of all the political blocs that won in the elections, and for that reason I responded," he said.
Following the selection of a speaker, Parliament must select a president and two vice-presidents by a two-thirds vote, according to the Constitution. President Talabani is expected to retain his post, and the other two slots will go to a Shiite and a Sunni Arab. Mr. Mashhadani said the Sunni bloc nominated Mr. Hashemi for that post today.
Following that, the president has 15 days to ask the candidate for prime minister to form a cabinet. The Constitution permits the prime minister 30 days to name the cabinet, and each member must be individually approved by an absolute majority of Parliament.
American and Iraqi officials say they hope the formation of a unified government will help stop the sectarian violence that has bloodied Iraq and spurred a sharp increase in fatalities among Iraqi civilians, police officers and soldiers in recent months.
American and Iraqi security forces continued to come under attack today. An improvised bomb exploded near a police convoy in the Yarmouk neighborhood of Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounding four policemen, an official at the Interior Ministry said. An American military convoy in Baghdad was attacked with a homemade bomb, wounding two soldiers and seriously damaging a tank, the official said.
In Kirkuk, a convoy belonging to an electricity company, traveling between Kirkuk and Tikrit, was ambushed by insurgents firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, killing five people, all foreigners, and wounding three others, a police official in Kirkuk said.
In Basra, a car bomb killed two civilians and wounded five others, including three traffic officers and a border guard, the police said.