WASHINGTON, Feb 21: The Bush administration acknowledged on Friday that its ambitious plan to transfer sovereignty directly to a democratically elected government in Iraq was unlikely to succeed , after Iraqis insisted on elections untainted by US influence.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the administration's initial plan for an interim, democratically elected government through a complicated series of 18 regional caucuses had failed to pass muster with Iraqi leaders.

"There's wide recognition that the caucus plan is something that has not received much support," he told reporters. "This is becoming more and more of an Iraqi-driven process."

Barely four months before the June 30 transfer of sovereignty by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the White House said it was talking to Iraqi leaders about new options for leaving the Muslim country with a "representative, transitional government" while awaiting recommendations from the United Nations.

Details of the UN position on elections will be announced next week, with a timeframe for elections to select a permanent government, probably late this year or early next year.

The United Nations, which has backed the US position that elections cannot be held before June 30, is working with Iraqis on proposals for interim rule that include an expanded governing council or a national conference of leaders that would select a provisional government.

But McClellan said the United Nations had not assumed a presiding role over negotiations in Iraq.

"We have always said the United Nations had a vital role to play. We appreciated their efforts in assessing the feasibility of elections, and we will continue to discuss ways they can continue to be involved," he said.

Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, the top Iraqi religious leader who was first to challenge the Bush caucus plan with a call for direct elections, said in an interview published on Friday that any interim government left behind by the Americans should have limited authority.

Diplomats have said the favoured approach is to add about 75 more members to the US-selected 25-member Iraqi Governing Council and then have that group choose an interim government.

There had been no decision on who would choose the council's members so Iraqis would not consider them tainted by the occupation authorities, UN officials said. -Reuters