Shiite nominee may face test

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A handful of Iraqi political parties have met in recent days to discuss a government that would unite the country’s disparate ethnic and sectarian groups, a step that could result in an attempt to defeat the ruling Shiite coalition’s nominee for prime minister.

The choice of incumbent Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari last week to serve a four-year term in Iraq’s most powerful office appeared to be a fait accompli a few days ago. Al-Jaafari had the backing of the United Iraqi Alliance, the coalition of Shiite religious parties that won the largest share of seats in parliamentary elections in December and that was expected to have enough votes to put its candidate in office.

But since the Shiites voted to make Al-Jaafari their nominee, representatives from Kurdish, Sunni Arab and secular parties that include multiple factions said they have met to discuss a broad-based coalition that potentially could overpower the Shiite candidate. The politicians, as well as Western officials, said in interviews that the race for prime minister was far from over.

“We are exploring all possibilities,” said Barham Saleh, a leader of the Kurdish alliance of parties, in a telephone interview just before he headed back into a meeting with other parties on Saturday.

The politicians received another reminder Saturday of how important the outcome is. A roadside bomb killed an American soldier on patrol in Baghdad, U.S. military authorities said in a statement, and 11 Iraqis were killed in other shootings and bombings, according to wire reports. In addition, two Macedonian contractors were reported kidnapped as they drove along a road in southern Iraq on Thursday.

Al-Jaafari, who has been called ineffectual since he took over a transitional government in May, faced challenges almost immediately following his nomination to head the country’s first full-term government since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Sunni Arab and secular parties – never great friends of Al-Jaafari – had been expected to object, but then the Shiites’ powerful allies in the Kurdistan Coalition began to express discontent.

The Kurds have clashed with Al-Jaafari before over control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which Kurdish leaders think should be a part of their largely autonomous region. In recent days, they have demanded that secular parties be given a role in the new government.

This is opposed by Muqtada Al-Sadr, the popular, radical Shiite cleric who was largely responsible for engineering Al-Jaafari’s victory.

In a rare interview Saturday night on Al-Jazeera television, Al-Sadr repeated his long-standing demand that U.S. and allied troops withdraw from Iraqi soil, and he said he opposed the breakup of the country along ethnic and sectarian lines.

He did not appear to be willing to assent to the Kurds’ demands – either for Kirkuk or for their own independent region. “The problem with Kirkuk is the presence of oil in it,” he said. “It should be in the ownership of all Iraqis. No one has the right to demand Kirkuk.”

U.S. officials, meanwhile, have said they favor a government that would bring all of Iraq’s ethnic and secular groups together under competent ministers, regardless of who leads it.

“The U.S. has worked with Al-Jaafari for some time. He’s not an enemy of the United States,” a Western diplomat said.

But he added that “the whole power balance has changed.”

Among the changes, the diplomat noted, was that the Shiite alliance is less powerful than it was after elections in January 2005. Sunni Arabs, who largely boycotted those elections, made a strong showing in the December vote.

At least two major roadblocks stand in the way of assembling a coalition that could produce enough votes to challenge Al-Jaafari. The first is the old antipathy between the Sunni Arabs and the Kurds, who bitterly remember the oppression suffered under Hussein’s Sunni-dominated dictatorship. Also, any coalition capable of amassing the two-thirds majority necessary to have a feasible candidate for prime minister would need to include at least some Shiite parties.