Saturday, September 4, 2010

INA Nominates Abdul-Mahdi for Iraq Premier

The Iraqi National Alliance (INA) on Friday named Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Iraq's vice president, as its candidate for primer minister. Abdul-Mahdi, a Shia, has also served as Iraq’s treasury minister. The selection by the largest pro-Iran Shia coalition will put pressure on its alliance partner, the State of Law, to dump the current premier Nouri al-Maliki. The INA, which includes followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, opposes al-Maliki because of his leading role in US-Iraqi offensives in al-Sadr's strongholds of Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City.

Ebrahim al-Jafari, a former Iraqi premier and a candidate for the post himself, and Ahmad Chalabi, the controversial politician, both voiced opposition to INA’s selection. But Ayad Al-Alawi, the head of a Sunni-backed alliance that received the most votes in the elections, said he would consider the Abdul-Mahdi’s candidacy.

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