Iraqi president calls for prime minister to step down

IRAQ’S Kurdish president called on the country’s Shi’ite prime minister to step down, the spokesperson for the president’s party said Sunday, escalating a political split between the two factions that make up the government.

Sunni Arab leaders, meanwhile, were angered after the Shi'ite-dominated parliament passed a new ruling on the key October 15 constitutional referendum, making it more difficult for Sunnis to defeat the draft constitution that they oppose.

The political wrangling deepened the splits between Iraq's three main communities amid a constitutional process that was aimed at bringing them together to build a democratic nation.

Kurds complained that Shi'ites were monopolising the government, while Sunnis accused Shi'ites of stacking the deck against them in the political process.

The Kurdish-Shi'ite split hits the core of the coalition that has made up the transitional government. President Jalal Talabani has made veiled threats to pull the Kurds out of the coalition if their demands are not met, a step that could bring the government's collapse.

Mr Talabani has accused the Shi'ite-led United Iraqi Alliance, which holds the majority in parliament, of failing to fairly distribute government positions to Kurds.

"The time has come for the United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdistan coalition to study Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's stepping aside from his post," said a spokesperson for Mr Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

The prime minister can be removed by a vote of no-confidence, requiring a simple majority vote in parliament but the Shi'ites hold some 150 seats in the 275-member body, making it unlikely.