Iraqi Alliance to Vote on Nominee

Top Shiite Muslim politicians failed to agree Wednesday on their nominee for prime minister, shifting the race to a secret ballot.

The United Iraqi Alliance is expected Friday to choose between Ibrahim Jafari and Ahmad Chalabi, said Ali Hashim Youshaa, an alliance leader.

Jafari, believed to be 57, leads the religious Islamic Dawa Party, known for its close ties to Iran. Jafari is a moderate, but his party’s platform is conservative.

Chalabi, 58, who left Iraq as a teenager, leads the Iraqi National Congress. He had close ties to the Pentagon before falling out of favor last year over allegations that he passed information to Iran.

A secular Shiite, Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress is an umbrella for groups that include Iraqi exiles, Kurds and Shiites.

The alliance’s 140 prospective lawmakers, plus eight legislators with allied parties, will vote in the secret ballot, Youshaa said.

The alliance took 48% of the vote in the Jan. 30 national election, but a two-thirds majority is required for approval of a prime minister. Kurdish parties, which won 26%, apparently have agreed to support the alliance’s candidate for prime minister in return for the largely ceremonial post of president.

In a chilling reminder of challenges awaiting the winner, a videotape showed a sobbing Italian hostage pleading for her life.

In the tape, delivered anonymously to Associated Press Television News, Giuliana Sgrena calls for the Italian government to withdraw its troops. It was released hours before the Italian Senate voted to extend Italy’s deployment through June.

Sgrena was kidnapped Feb. 4 by gunmen outside a mosque in Baghdad.