BAGHDAD, April 10: Sunni, Kurdish and secularist leaders on Monday emphatically rejected Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari staying on in his post, possibly sealing the embattled premier’s political fate.
The clear ‘no’ to Mr Jaafari — blamed for failing to curb sectarian bloodshed since the bombing of a revered shrine in Samarra in February — came amid a renewed wave of violence that killed more than 100 Shias last week.
Mr Jaafari’s United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the largest parliamentary bloc, made yet another bid on Sunday to save Jaafari’s candidature by setting up a three-member committee to hold talks with the Kurds and the Sunnis.
The committee was mandated to talk to the two minority groups without whose support a national unity government — as desired by the United States — is virtually impossible.
“We have sent a letter to our Shiite brothers explaining that our position remains the same — that of rejecting Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari’s candidacy,” Thafer al Ani, spokesman of the Sunni-led National Concord Front, said.
The National Concord Front has 44 seats in the 275-member Iraqi parliament.
Late on Sunday, Iraq’s Kurdish group in parliament also rejected Mr Jaafari’s candidature.
“We have once again rejected Jaafari’s candidacy,” Kurdish lawmaker Mahmud Othman said after a meeting between leaders of the Kurdish coalition in parliament and representatives of Mr Jaafari’s party.
On Monday, the secularist list of former premier Iyad Allawi also joined the Kurds and the Sunnis in rejecting Mr Jaafari.
The election-winning Shia bloc, which has 128 MPs, lacks the overall majority in the 275-member parliament needed to push through a nomination for prime minister on its own.
A senior member of the alliance said the UIA would meet on Tuesday to discuss the latest developments.
Mr Jaafari has been facing opposition even from within the alliance, with numerous Shia MPs demanding his withdrawal, including Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi, who lost out narrowly to Mr Jaafari in the nomination race.—AFP
