7, April 2005	Thursday	27 Safar 1426

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BAGHDAD, April 6: Iraq’s parliament on Wednesday elected former Kurdish fighter Jalal Talabani as the country’s first freely-elected president, paving the way for the creation of a government more than two months after elections. The choice of Talabani by the 275-seat assembly is a major political victory for the long-suffering Kurdish minority in Iraq, which was violently oppressed under ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

Shia leader Adel Abdel Mahdi and outgoing Sunni president Ghazi al-Yawar were named as Talabani’s two deputies by parliament, meeting in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone after weeks of wrangling over the top posts.

Iraqi MPs predicted a new government should be in place by next week, with Shia politician Ibrahim al-Jafaari set to be named prime minister on Thursday by the new three-man presidency council.

Mr Talabani pledged to heal Iraq’s ethnic and religious fissures as he was sworn in.

“We will spare no effort to present Iraq as a model of democracy... We hope to consolidate national unity... regardless of religious and sectarian backgrounds.”

He told reporters his presidency meant that “all Iraqis are equal before the law. It means that there is no discrimination that all Arabs, Kurds and other nationalities have the same rights.”

He also spoke about the Sunni-based insurgency, hoping to peel them away from movements like the Al Qaeda group blamed for much of the deadly unrest gripping the country.

“Those Iraqis who are carrying arms to fight foreign troops, they are our brothers we can talk to reach a result,” he said.

Talabani and his two deputies, who ran unopposed after weeks of bartering among Shia, Kurds and Sunnis, were elected by 228 members of parliament.

The assembly erupted in applause when the names were announced, bringing to an end the tortuous negotiations that risked losing the faith of the Iraqi people in government after they risked their lives to vote on Jan 30.

Deputy parliament speaker Shia MP Hussein Shahrastani said the presidency council would be sworn in on Thursday at 3pm when they would nominate Shia leader Jaafari.

“The presidency council will take oath tomorrow and nominate Ibrahim Jaafari and we will have a few days to nominate the government,” he said. “Everything will be in place the beginning of next week or the end of next week at latest.”

The government is also leaning toward the creation of three deputy prime minister posts although the Kurds only wanted one, Shahrastani said.

One outstanding dispute is leadership of the oil ministry, which the Shia and Kurds have fought over. But even that is expected to be surmounted.

The presidency council submits the names of prime minister and his cabinet to parliament for confirmation by a majority vote. It also has veto power over legislative bills.

Jaafari’s appointment will usher in a new era for the Shiite majority, ruling Iraq’s political stage for the first time after decades of repression.

The main task for parliament and the next government will be to oversee the drafting of a permanent constitution and to pave the way for a second round of elections by December.

The vote was a formality after the powerful Shia and Kurdish blocs formalised the line-up with Sunni parties on Tuesday. They had been haggling over cabinet posts and future policy such as federalism and the status of the ethnically-divided northern oil centre of Kirkuk.—AFP