Friday, 18 February 2005Weeks of formal negotiations are set to begin on the formation of a new government in Iraq.
The talks come after confirmation that an alliance of Shia Muslims won a slim majority in last month's election.
The Shia United Iraqi Alliance party took 48% of the vote and was allocated 140 seats out of 275 in the new National Assembly.
The party will have to form a coalition to reach the two-thirds majority needed to elect a president.
The assembly will also choose two vice-presidents, who along with the president will decide on a prime minister and a cabinet.
The Kurdish parties, which came second in the poll, have 75 seats, and interim PM Iyad Allawi's secular party has 40 seats.
'Extremely successful'
Members of the Alliance party - which is made up of a coalition of Shia parties - have been meeting this week to discuss their candidate for prime minister.
The current interim Vice-President, Ibrahim Jaafari, is seen as a favourite although he is being challenged by Ahmed Chalabi, who once had close ties with the Pentagon but has since lost US support.
The Kurds have said they want their leader, Jalal Talabani, to be president.
The Sunnis are also likely to be offered one of the two vice-presidents jobs, and possibly the job of speaker of the assembly.
It is a tortuous process that could take several months to play out and it is a prelude to even tougher negotiations over a new constitution for Iraq, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Baghdad.
But he adds that all of the main parties are taking part and a compromise looks possible.
Iraq's electoral commission announced the results of the election on 13 February.
The commission has spent the last few days considering complaints arising from the elections.
Spokesman Farid Ayar told al-Arabiya television that 47 complaints were filed and most had been resolved.
Story from BBC NEWS |
Friday, 18 February 2005
Iraq
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