Iraq Shi'ites Debate PM Choice, Allies After Poll
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Iraq's main Shi'ite alliance, fresh from winning landmark elections, gathered on Monday to choose a candidate for prime minister and the allies it needs after failing to win an absolute majority.
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Iraq's fractious ethnic and religious parliamentary groups agreed Sunday to open debate on a contentious Shiite-proposed draft legislation that will allow the creation of federal regions in Iraq, politicians said.
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Under the stewardship of the country's most powerful religious figure, Iraq's fractured Shiite Muslim majority has closed ranks and produced a unified list of candidates for the parliamentary elections set for Jan. 30.
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Iraq's elections will be legitimate if  roughly half the Sunni Arab minority votes despite threats of  violence, a leading politician in the Shi'ite alliance expected  to dominate the polls said on Saturday.
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair held talks with Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi during a surprise visit to Baghdad on Tuesday, and described the violence in the runup Iraqi national elections as a "battle between democracy and terror."
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BASRA, Iraq -- Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who is responsible for bringing democracy to Iraq, got a stirring taste of electoral politics on a recent swing through the impoverished Shi'ite south of the country.
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An Islamist Shi'ite politician and  former exile emerged as the front-runner to become Iraq's new  prime minister on Tuesday as horse-trading to decide the  line-up of the next government entered the final stages.
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Shi'ite politician and former exile  Ibrahim al-Jaafari emerged as the front-runner Tuesday to  become Iraq's new prime minister as horse-trading to decide the  line-up of the next government entered the final stages.
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Iraq's main Shi'ite alliance, fresh  from winning landmark elections, gathered on Monday to choose a  candidate for prime minister and the allies it needs after  failing to win an absolute majority.
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Iraq's main Shiite Muslim alliance expects to win the biggest share in the country's National Assembly but not enough to push through a political agenda or claim the prime minister's job without support from other parties &#151; notably the Kurds.
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Rivals debate Iraq, experience and healthcare - but strive for party unity
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Iraqi leaders met for a second day on Monday to pick an interim national assembly but fighting in Najaf dominated the event, piling pressure on Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to hold more talks with Shi'ite rebels.
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Iraq's Shiite prime minister, struggling to prevent sectarian violence from sending Iraq into full-fledged civil war, is facing strong criticism from top Shiite and Sunni Arab leaders alike as he prepares for a summit with President Bush next week.
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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.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met on Wednesday with the reclusive leader of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to discuss a government crisis in which nearly half his cabinet has quit.
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Tony Blair and his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi have been discussing the situation in Iraq during the UK prime minister's holiday.
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The prospect of a Shiite leader with close ties to Iran coming to power raises the brooding issue of Iran's future influence in Iraq.