Word: sunnis
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...controversial prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was greeted as a sign of hope for the cause of Iraqi democracy. But whatever their differences in personal style, Jaafari and his designated successor are cut from the same political cloth - and they will face the same political obstacles that fueled Kurdish, Sunni and U.S. objections to Jaafari...
NOMINATED. Jawad al-Maliki, 56, hard-line Shi'ite leader; to replace outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari after he agreed to abandon a bid to keep his post; in Baghdad. Al-Maliki was endorsed by Iraq's Kurdish President, Jalal Talabani, as well as other key Sunni Arab and Kurdish leaders who said they would support him in the hope of ending a months-long political deadlock...
...hard-line Shi'ite leader; to replace outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari; in Baghdad. Al-Maliki was nominated after al-Jaafari agreed to abandon a bid to keep his post. Though al-Maliki, who is in his mid-50s, was not the first choice of rival factions, Sunni Arab and Kurdish leaders said they would support him in the hope of ending a two-month political deadlock and moving the government forward...
...Thursday that he would refer his nomination for a second term back to the United Iraqi Alliance, the dominant Shi'ite bloc in the new legislature. That opens the way for the Alliance to select a new candidate and break the deadlock created by the refusal of the Kurdish, Sunni and secular blocs, backed by the U.S., to accept a second Jaafari term...
Given the scale of the resentment, will any vote held under such conditions be considered acceptable? One key will be to assure Sunni leaders that they will have a stake in the new political order. "The level of violence does not preclude elections," says a Western diplomat in Iraq. "I'm not hitting the panic button on this yet." In any case, the election will be less about U.S.-style campaigning than back-room haggling, with the goal of putting together a fairly representative government that can slowly win legitimacy. "Democracy is a new concept in Iraq," says a State...