Iraqi council postpones meeting to select president

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq’s Governing Council postponed a meeting to select a new Iraqi president by a day Monday, breaking a self-imposed U.N. and coalition deadline to announce a new government by the end of May.

Three officials, including council member Mahmoud Othman, reported the postponement but did not give a reason; however, the delay in choosing a president suggests differences remain between the Iraqi council and the U.S.-run coalition over who should get the job of president.

Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, warned against assuming that the delay meant the process was in jeopardy. “It is a process that is evolving hour by hour. It is a very delicate process and a delicate balance,” he said.

Most of Governing Council favors the current head, civil engineer Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, for president, while the Americans back an 81-year-old former foreign minister, Adnan Pachachi.

Both men are Sunni Muslim Arabs.

Council member Sondul Chapouka, an ethnic Turk from the northern city of Kirkuk, told Associated Press Television News that Iraq’s U.S. governor L. Paul Bremer informed the council that other candidates were being considered for the president’s job.

She complained that she and other council members were being sidelined, with the consultations involving only the coalition, Brahimi and prominent council members.

“It would have been better if the entire council was part of those meetings,” Chapouka said. “We also are Iraqis and should take part in making decisions that are important to our nation.”

Yawer is 45 and graduated from the University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He also has a Masters from George Washington University.

Brahimi had hoped to complete the selection of the 26-member Cabinet by Monday, and sources close to the deliberations said many of the posts had been tentatively filled.

The next Iraqi government will take power June 30 and serve until elections are held by Jan. 31.

In an interview published Monday in Time magazine, Brahimi complained that poor security and a lack of communication among Iraqis had make the selection process more difficult.

“It’s a very complicated business,” the former Algerian foreign minister was quoted as saying. “The security situation is just impossible.”

Coalition spokesman Dan Senor denied the Americans were showing favoritism toward Pachachi.

However, a member of the council speaking on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press that Bremer and Brahimi were exerting “massive pressure” in support of Pachachi.

Bremer and President Bush’s special envoy, Robert Blackwill, attended part of a five-hour council meeting Sunday and urged the members not to vote on the presidency, apparently fearing that al-Yawer would win, council sources said.

The Americans warned that if the council went ahead and voted, the United States might not recognize the choice, the sources said. Bremer has the final say on all policy decisions in Iraq.

The coalition-backed Baghdad daily Al-Sabah reported Monday that al-Yawer had turned down a Bremer request to take himself out of the running. Al-Yawer insisted that the selection must be made by the council, the newspaper said. There was no independent confirmation of the report.

Raja Habib al-Khuzaai, a Shiite council member tipped to become health minister in the new Cabinet, told AP that Bremer also asked the council to dissolve itself when the new transitional government is announced. Under an interim constitution adopted in March, the council is scheduled to disband on June 30, the day the occupation formally ends.

Younadem Kana, an Assyrian Christian member of the Governing Council, told Al-Jazeera television that “most of the voices” on the council wanted al-Yawer for president.

The tough stand by Bremer in support of Pachachi was unexpected because the presidency will be a figurehead post and the Americans had signaled they were primarily interested in approving the choice for prime minister.

That job went to Iyad Allawi, a U.S.-backed Shiite Muslim, on Friday.

Pachachi was instrumental in overseeing the drafting of an interim constitution that U.S. officials have hailed as among the most progressive and democratic in the Arab world.

The document was adopted despite reservations by Shiite council members and over the objections by the country’s most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani.

Pachachi, who fled to the United Arab Emirates after Saddam’s Baath Party seized power in 1968, is well connected within the United States, United Nations and pro-U.S. nations of the Gulf.

During a recent television interview, al-Yawer, who routinely wears traditional Arab robes and head gear, was sharply critical of the American occupation, blaming U.S. ineptness for the deteriorating law and order.

“We blame the United States 100 percent for the security in Iraq,” said al-Yawer, who belongs to one of the largest tribes in the region and has the support of Shiite and Kurdish council members.

“They occupied the country, disbanded the security agencies and for 10 months left Iraq’s borders open for anyone to come in without a visa or even a passport.”

Al-Yawer, who is in his 40s, has also denounced violence against American and other coalition forces.

Pachachi, who favors Western attire, has said foreign troops must remain in Iraq until the violence is quelled and the army and police are fully prepared to protect the nation.