Al-Jaafari drops bid to keep post as Iraqi premier

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Beleaguered Iraqis were given new hope that the parliament they elected four months ago would finally form a long-term government, after acting Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari loosened his grip on the top job Thursday.

Al-Jaafari’s fractious Shiite coalition will vote today on whether to keep him as its candidate for prime minister or choose a fresh face who might win wider backing from Iraq’s disparate ethnic and religious groups.

Al-Jaafari has become a polarizing figure whose determination to hang on to the Shiite nomination despite equally stubborn opposition has frozen the process of finding a power-sharing formula and improving conditions for eventual U.S. troop withdrawal.

The political paralysis has contributed to the explosion of street fighting in the last few weeks, notably a murder spree between Shiite and Sunni militias and gangs.

But al-Jaafari’s resistance to stepping aside cracked Thursday. In a statement – followed several hours later by a rambling, nationally televised speech – he asked the umbrella of Shiite parties that emerged from last December’s elections as the country’s dominant political force to reconsider his candidacy.

Al-Jaafari promised to “not be an obstacle” if they no longer wanted him as their candidate.

The Shiite bloc immediately seized upon his offer to announce they would hold a vote on al-Jaafari’s candidacy today, and find an alternative if he was not reconfirmed.

Al-Jaafari had faced concerted resistance from minority Kurds and Sunni Arabs from the start of his candidacy, which he won in February by just one vote from the 130-member nominating forum. More recently, he resisted back-room nudges from U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, and the vocal impatience at political stalemate expressed by President Bush.

But al-Jaafari apparently relented after members of his own coalition and prominent Shiites began breaking ranks – among them, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.