Shiite leaders fail to agree on a prime minister, will hold secret ballot

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Leaders of the Shiite political alliance that won Iraq's election failed to agree on a single nominee for prime minister Wednesday, with the two candidates insisting on a vote by the alliance's 140 parliamentarians, officials said.

After meeting for hours with Shiite cleric and politician Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, members of the United Iraqi Alliance agreed to hold a secret ballot to choose between two former exiles, Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Ahmad Chalabi, said Ali Hashim al-Youshaa, an alliance leader who attended the meetings. The vote is expected Friday.

The U.S. military also reported Wednesday that a U.S. soldier assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was killed in action Tuesday in western Iraq. In addition, the bodies of eight Iraqis described as collaborators with U.S. forces were found in a desert area north of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, a videotape made by insurgents showed a sobbing Italian journalist held hostage pleading for her life and urging all U.S.-led troops to leave Iraq.

Both candidates were expected to present their political agendas and priorities to alliance members before the vote, al-Youshaa said.

The failure to reach a consensus revealed cracks within the coalition, which consists of 10 major parties backed by Shiite religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. But Hayder al-Mousawi, Chalabi's spokesman, denied there was a serious problem.

"No way is there a division inside the alliance. Everybody agreed on adhering to whatever results the internal elections will reach," he said.

A close aide to al-Sistani, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the alliance leaders will visit his office in Najaf to get his blessing for their choice for prime minister. If they cannot agree, al-Sistani will decide.

If provisional results stand, the alliance, made up of religious Shiite parties, will have 140 seats in the 275-member National Assembly. At least three other party coalitions that won seats in the assembly had joined the alliance's bloc, adding eight more seats, al-Youshaa said. All 148 prospective parliamentarians will vote in the secret ballot, officials said.

Al-Jaafari leads the Dawa Party, known for its close ties to Iran.

Chalabi, 58, who left Iraq as a teen, leads the Iraqi National Congress and had close ties to the Pentagon before falling out of favor last year after claims he passed intelligence information to Iran.