Shiite-led coalition wants prime minister post in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Officials of the Shiite-led coalition that has rolled up a big lead in last weekend’s elections said it wants the prime minister post in the upcoming government – casting doubt on chances that U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ayad Allawi can keep his job.

Allawi, whose ticket is running a distant second in election returns so far, had been seen as a possible compromise candidate if the Shiites and their allies don’t win the two-thirds of the 275 National Assembly seats needed to pick the government.

But the United Iraqi Alliance – a Shiite-led group whose leaders have ties to Iran – appeared confident it would have to be given the top spot.

“The alliance would like to get either the position of the president or the prime minister and it prefers that it be that of the prime minister,” Redha Taqi, a top official in one of the coalition factions, told the Associated Press.

The presidency is a largely ceremonial post, currently held by a Sunni Arab, Ghazi al-Yawer. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani has announced his candidacy for president, and the Kurds are likely to end up as one of the top three blocs in the assembly. Shiites and Kurds suffered under Saddam Hussein’s regime and are expected to work together in the assembly.

The Iraqi election commission released no new election returns Saturday, but predicted it would announce final vote totals by Thursday. The National Assembly must elect a president and two vice presidents by a two-thirds majority. The three in turn select a prime minister subject to assembly approval.

Partial returns from about 35 percent of the 5,200 polling centers showed the alliance, which was endorsed by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, with about two-thirds of the votes to 18 percent for Allawi, a secular Shiite. Shiites are believed to make up two-thirds of Iraq’s 26 million people.

Most of those returns were from Shiite provinces where the alliance, whose leaders have links to Iran, had been expected to run strong. No returns have been announced from much of Baghdad and from heavily Sunni Arab or Kurdish provinces.

But many Sunnis apparently stayed at home on election day, heeding boycott calls by hard-line clerics or fearing insurgent attacks.

That has raised fears that the Sunni Arab minority, estimated at 20 percent of the population, may not accept a new Shiite-dominated government, fueling the Sunni-led insurgency.

In a bid to avoid marginalization, a group of Sunni Arab parties that refused to participate in the election said Saturday they want to take part in the drafting of a permanent constitution – a chief task of the new National Assembly.

“The representatives of these political bodies that did not participate in the elections have decided in principle to take part in the writing of the permanent constitution in a suitable way,” a statement from the group said.

The groups were mainly small movements and it was not clear whether they represent a major portion of the Sunni Arab community. The initiative was spearheaded by Sunni elder statesman Adnan Pachachi, who ran for a National Assembly seat.

Pachachi told CNN he had talked with Shiite and Kurdish leaders about a role for the Sunnis in drafting a new constitution “and they all welcomed this idea.”

“So I think this will help to perhaps lessen the tensions and help in satisfying the country to some extent,” Pachachi said.

Nevertheless, armed Sunni groups – including nationalists, Saddam supporters and Islamic zealots – showed little sign they were ready to join in any national reconciliation.

Police interrogated the driver and translator of the Italian journalist, Sgrena, 56, who was kidnapped Friday near Baghdad University compound. Officials said the two have not been charged.

A Web site posting in the name of the Islamic Jihad Organization claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, but Italian officials said they were not convinced the statement was genuine.