BAGHDAD, Nov 24: Prime Minister Iyad Allawi will lead a broad alliance of political parties in the race to form Iraq's new government after landmark elections planned for January, his party said on Wednesday.

"We invited 250 personalities, including the secretaries general of political parties and religious movements, to form a national front to help bring about a united, free and democratic Iraq," Rassem Awadi, a member of the Iraqi National Accord's political bureau, said.

"Despite ideological and confessional differences, everyone gave their blessing to this initiative and our meeting ended with a decision picking Mr. Allawi to lead this front," he added.

Iyad Awadi did not, however, name the parties or groups involved in the choice of Allawi, a secular Shia anointed by the United States in June to lead Iraq's interim government.

Mr Allawi insists that the elections, the first free and multi-party polls to be held in Iraq since 1954, will go ahead as planned on Jan 30 despite the violence that still wracks large parts of the country.

Several Sunni parties have demanded the vote be put back by six months due to the security situation and some Arab countries have also suggested that the date was not set in stone. But the interim constitution adopted in March states that the elections - the next big step of the transition process after power was transferred from a US-picked governing council in June - should be held by the end of January.

More than 200 Iraqi political parties have thrown their hat into the electoral ring and intense negotiations are under way to form unified lists for the poll. The official launch of the campaign is on Dec 15. -AFP