Chalabi pulls out of Iraq PM race

Former Washington favourite Ahmad Chalabi dropped his bid to be the next prime minister of Iraq today.

The decision makes conservative interim vice president Ibrahim al-Jaafari the sole United Iraqi Alliance candidate for prime minister, a senior alliance official said.

The decision came after three days of round-the-clock negotiating by senior members of the UIA, which emerged from last month’s elections with a 140 seat majority in the 275 member parliament, or National Assembly.

The office of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, confirmed that Chalabi had withdrawn.

Al-Jaafari, said to have links with Iran, lived in in London exile until the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Former interim premier Ayad Allawi, whose party came third in the first post-Saddam election, is also a prime ministerial candidate.