Jaafari faces growing opposition
Iraq, Politics, 3/7/2006

The Sunni and Kurdish forces in Iraq reiterated rejection to Ibrahim al-Jaafari continuing in the position of prime minister in a new Iraqi government.

On the other hand, the Iraqi capital and several Shiite cities in the south witnessed demonstrations in support of Jaafari.

In another development, the Iraqi President Jalal al-Talibani announced that the new parliament will convene its first session next Sunday. He said in a press conference following his meeting with the prime minister of Kurdistan, Masoud al-Barazani, that he will call upon heads of lists and parliamentary blocs to convene a session for the parliament on March 12.

A Guardian Unlimited report (www.guardian.co.uk) today noted that "Such a meeting would have started a 60-day countdown for the legislators to elect a president, approve al-Jaafari's nomination as prime minister and sign off on his Cabinet. Talabani was mistakenly counting on the signature of Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite, who lost his own bid for the prime minister's nomination by one vote to al-Jaafari. Talabani had in hand a power of attorney from the other vice president, Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni, who was out of the country."

The Guardian Unlimited report noted the support of Muqtada al-Sadr to Jaafari and saying "The Shiite bloc closed ranks and Abdul-Mahdi declined to sign, at least for now. In an emergency meeting with Talabani on Monday, seven Shiite leaders rejected the president's demand for them to abandon al-Jaafari's nomination."

The Iraqi constitution states that the first session of the parliament to be held two weeks after announcing the officially ratified results of the elections. The results were announced on February 10th.

Previous Stories:
  Talibani: national unity necessitates Jaafari step aside   (3/6/2006)
  Pressures increase to drop Jaafari   (3/6/2006)
  Palestinians in Iraq being targeted   (3/3/2006)

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