Iraqi Sunni and Kurdish leaders yesterday emphatically rejected Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari staying on in the next government, possibly sealing the embattled Shiite's political fate.
The clear no to Jaafari -- blamed for failing to curb sectarian bloodshed since the bombing of the Shiite Samarra shrine in February -- came amid a wave of violence that left more than 100 Shiites dead last week.
Jaafari's Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, the largest parliamentary bloc, had made yet another attempt on Sunday to save Jaafari's candidature by setting up a three-member committee to talk to the Kurds and the Sunnis.
The committee was mandated to talk to the two minority groups without whose support a national unity government -- as desired by the US -- is virtually impossible to be formed in Iraq.
"We have sent a letter to our Shiite brothers explaining that our position remains the same -- that of rejecting Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's candidacy," Thafer al-Ani, spokesman of the Sunni-led National Concord Front told Agence France Presse.
The National Concord Front has 44 seats in the 275-member Iraqi parliament.
Late on Sunday Iraq's Kurdish group also rejected the candidature of Jaafari.
The Alliance was expected to meet yesterday to make a final decision on Jaafari.
"After we formally hear from the other lists, like the Iraqiya, which will also refuse to work with Jaafari, then we will today [yesterday] sit down in the Alliance and decide," said a senior Alliance source.
Although the Alliance has the biggest bloc in parliament, it falls just short of an overall majority so Shiite leaders need the Kurds and Sunnis to form a unity government.
They accuse Jaafari of monopolizing power and failing to lead the country out of its many woes, and even his partners in the Alliance oppose him, but the Dawa party leader has refused to step down.
Jaafari has been facing opposition even from within the Alliance, with numerous Shiite MPs demanding his withdrawal, including Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi, who lost out narrowly to Jaafari in the nomination race.
As the yawning political vacuum created over Jaafari continues nearly four months after the elections, Iraq remains engulfed in a deadly wave of sectarian violence. On Sunday 12 people were killed in a series of bombings and shootings.
The US and UK were watching yesterday's political developments very closely after repeatedly urging Iraqi leaders to bury their differences and fill a political vacuum that is fueling violence.
A planned meeting between the US and Iran on stability in Iraq had raised hopes that the neighboring power could use its influence over fellow Shiites leading the Iraqi government and help push the political process forward.
But US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who will represent Washington in the talks, said on Sunday the meeting will not be held until after an Iraqi government was formed.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak hit a nerve by declaring that Iraq was in a state of civil war.
Mubarak said in an interview with Dubai-based al-Arabiyah television on Saturday that "there is effectively a civil war underway now."
The Shiite-led Iraqi government, eager to project an image of unity, strongly criticized Mubarak, after he said Shiites were more loyal to Iran than their own Arab countries.
"The comments have upset Iraqi people who come from different religious and ethnic backgrounds and has astonished and dismayed the Iraqi government," Jaafari said.
President Jalal Talabani said the "accusations against our Shiite brothers are baseless and we have asked our foreign minister to talk to Egypt about this."
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