One prime ministerial candidate withdraws, Chalabi's chances grow

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The contest to be Iraq's next prime minister narrowed Tuesday after the French-educated finance minister removed himself from consideration in the ranks of the Shiite alliance, making it a two-man race, party spokesmen said.

The United Iraqi Alliance, which has provisionally won more than half the seats in the new National Assembly, has been left with two main contenders, interim Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Ahmad Chalabi, the former Pentagon favorite.

Representatives for both men claimed their candidate was the front-runner.

"There is almost a general consensus between most of the main political parties in the alliance on the nomination of Ibrahim al-Jaafari," said Adnan Ali, his chief of staff.

Ali said there would be no announcement for two days.

Hussein al-Mousawi, a spokesman for the Shiite Political Council, an umbrella group for 38 Shiite political parties, said Chalabi would most likely be the next prime minister.

Al-Mousawi said 80 of the estimated 140 alliance members expected to take part in the newly elected National Assembly favored Chalabi.

Finance Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi agreed to withdraw as a candidate in return for unspecified concessions, said Humam Hamoudi, a spokesman for the alliance, who said al-Jaafari was most likely to be its candidate.

Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party came a distant third in the Jan. 30 polling, and it was not clear what role he would have, since the Shiite alliance, which brings together a number of Shiite political parties, seems determined to place one of their own in the powerful post.

Alliance representatives met Tuesday with their religious leaders in the holy city of Najaf to discuss the choice for premier.

An aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraqi Shiites, said that so far, "official and unofficial delegations arrived in Najaf and left without reaching any agreements."

They were to return Wednesday to continue talks, the aide said, on condition of anonymity.

The clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance won 48 percent of the vote for the National Assembly, the Kurdish alliance won 26 percent, and Allawi, a secular Shiite who supported strong ties to Washington, won only 14 percent. That could make the Kurds, who like the Shiites were oppressed under Saddam Hussein, the kingmakers in the new Iraq.