BAGHDAD,
April 1, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Further dashing
his hopes to keep the premiership seat, leaders of the ruling Shiite
United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) on Saturday, April 2, joined mounting
calls for incumbent Ibrahim Jaafari to withdraw his candidacy to break
weeks of deadlock over a national unity government.
"I
call on Jaafari to take a courageous step and set a fine example by
stepping down," Kasim Daoud, a senior member of the independent
group within the Alliance, told Reuters.
Privately,
rival Alliance leaders have been turning against Jaafari but the call
on Saturday was their first public demand.
"There
is a broad trend inside the Alliance who want Jaafari to do this (step
aside) and we expect him to do so," Daoud said.
More
than three months after December's general election, Iraqi leaders
still face the daunting challenge of forming a new government with
Sunni and Kurdish and secular parties refusing to join a cabinet under
"not-neutral" Jaafari.
"We
have stood behind him for 50 days and today we have reached the
conclusion that there should be a prime minister for all Iraqis, not
just one group," Daoud said.
The
US has stepped up pressure on Iraqi leaders to form a coalition
government, seen as critical to putting a lid on spiraling sectarian
bloodshed that has killed hundreds over the past five weeks.
Waning
Support
Other
senior officials, speaking anonymously, confirmed four of seven main
groups within the Alliance wanted Jaafari to give up the nomination
for a second term.
"Daoud's
call is supported by at least 60 percent of Alliance members of
parliament," a senior Alliance official from another group within
the bloc told Reuters.
"We
need another 24 hours before starting the battle" to pressure
Jaafari into resigning, he added.
Alliance
officials said the seven key groups inside the bloc had met on
Thursday and Friday and concluded by a four to three majority to give
Jaafari just days to persuade the Kurds, Sunnis and secular leaders to
drop their opposition to him.
That
seems highly improbable but a committee of three Alliance officials
was meeting on Saturday with Kurds and Sunnis, who had formally
written this week to Alliance leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim urging him to
produce a more acceptable candidate.
Jaafari
beat Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a candidate from Hakim's Supreme
Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), by a single vote in an
internal ballot in February.
As
by far the biggest bloc in parliament, with a near-majority of 128
seats in the 275-seat chamber, the Alliance has the right to nominate
who will fill the most powerful job.
Adamant
Jaafari's
own Dawa Party, however, rejected the call and maintained the need for
the alliance's unity around their candidate, reported Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
"It
is a mistake for anyone to ask Jaafari to step done publicly,"
said Khodeir Khuzaie, a party official.
"It
would be better to discuss this internally and direct this opposition
to the alliance.
"Jaafari
is the candidate of the alliance and the alliance will not let him
down," he added.
A
US diplomat said on Saturday it was Washington's analysis that any
prime minister must be both competent and able to unite Iraqis -- and
that Jaafari did not score well on those criteria.
This
week senior Shiite politicians said US Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay
Khalilzad, had told them President George W Bush "doesn't want,
doesn't support, doesn't accept" the retention of Jaafari.
