Former London-based exile set to become Iraqi premier

Interim Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari was chosen as his Shiite ticket’s candidate for Iraq’s next prime minister today, after Ahmad Chalabi dropped his bid.

Al-Jaafari, a former hospital doctor who lived in exile in London, was most likely to be approved by two-thirds of the newly elected 275 member National Assembly when the parliament convenes. A date for that has not been set.

“Chalabi announced his withdrawal and everyone agreed on al-Jaafari. Then Chalabi declared his support to al-Jaafari,” said Haytham al Husaini, a top aide to the leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim.

The council, also known as SCIRI, is the main group making up the alliance. It had for days tried to persuade Chalabi to quit the race, some of its senior officials said.

Al-Jaafari’s only other likely opponent for the post would be interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who was nominated for the job by his group. The Iraqi List got only 14% of the vote – or 40 seats.

Pressure from within the ranks of the winning United Iraqi Alliance forced former Washington favourite Chalabi to withdraw, said Hussein al-Moussawi from the Shiite Political Council, an umbrella group for 38 Shiite parties.

“They wanted him to withdraw, they didn’t want to push the vote to a secret ballot,” al-Moussawi said.

The Shiite alliance won 140 seats in last month’s elections, but a 182 seat majority is needed to confirm a prime minister. That means the alliance will need to strike a deal with smaller parties to form the next government after choosing its candidate.

The alliance is thought to have the support of the Kurdish coalition, which garnered 75 seats. In return, the alliance would support Kurdish leader Jala Talabani for the largely ceremonial post of president.

Until Chalabi agreed to withdraw, the 140 members had planned to put the decision between Chalabi and al-Jaafari to a secret ballot by tonight.

The decision came after three days of round-the-clock negotiating by senior members of the United Iraqi Alliance, which emerged from the elections.

Bargaining for the job began shortly after the elections, with Chalabi making a surprise bid for the senior post in the next government.

Al-Jaafari, 58, is the main spokesman for the Islamic Dawa Party, which waged a bloody campaign against Saddam’s regime in the late 1970s. Saddam crushed the campaign in 1982 and Dawa based itself in Iran. Al-Jaafari went into exile in London

Once the new National Assembly meets, it will elect a largely ceremonial president and two deputy presidents. The president and two deputies have two weeks to officially install the prime minister and Cabinet, subject to the approval by two-thirds of the parliament – or 182 votes.