Leading candidate for Iraq’s premiership, Ibrahim Al-Ja’afri, is being pressured by various political groups to drop out of the race for prime minister, and to free up the position for the current interim Prime Minister Iyad ‘Alawi, reports the Al-‘Arabiyya TV network.
Al-Ja’afri leads the powerful United Iraqi Alliance, which won 48 percent of the votes in January’s parliamentary elections. Until recently he was considered the leading candidate for prime minister, but this changed last week, when Iyad ‘Alawi announced his entry into the race.
Iraqi sources say that negotiations between several political parties are being conducted now, in a bid to reach an agreeable settlement. If Al-Ja’afri decides to quit the race – the sources say – his party will be granted compensations, details of which have not yet been published.
The Kurdish alliance, which won 26% of the votes and is the second largest alliance in the parliament, announced it had not yet chosen its preferred candidate for prime minister.