Baghdad, Iraq – Rival Shiite leaders agreed Sunday to allow Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s party to nominate the next prime minister on the condition that al-Jaafari step down, Iraqi politicians said.
The move could bring the Shiite bloc closer to resolving a nearly two-month impasse over the candidate for prime minister and speed the formation of a new government.
As of Sunday evening, al-Jaafari remained unwilling to resign, but officials in his party were discussing options, Shiite leaders said.
The inability of Iraq’s factions to cut a power-sharing deal leaves the government incapable of responding forcefully to sectarian attacks that many fear are pushing the country toward civil war.
Violent provocations continued Sunday, with the country raked by bombings, drive-by shootings and kidnappings. At least 35 Iraqis died nationwide.
The U.S. military also announced that four Marines had been killed in combat Saturday in the province of Anbar west of Baghdad. The names of the Marines were not released.
To allow more time for political negotiations, the acting speaker of parliament, Adnan Pachachi, canceled a meeting of the 275-member assembly that had been scheduled for today. He said in a telephone interview he had acted “against my better judgment” but that a solution may be reached within a few days.
Pachachi called the meeting last week to try to set a deadline for the Shiites to resolve the issue and present a nominee to parliament.
In recent weeks, rival factions within the Shiite bloc, which holds 130 seats in parliament, have been jockeying for the prime minister post. The bloc, the largest in parliament, has the right to make a nomination. Al-Jaafari, considered by many to be an ineffectual leader, won the nomination in February by a single vote in a secret ballot among the Shiites. He was backed by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
But in late February, the main Sunni Arab, Kurdish and secular blocs in parliament said they would not accept al-Jaafari.
The Shiites have been trying to find another nominee for nearly two months.
Pachachi said the Shiite leaders agreed that al-Jaafari’s political group, the Islamic Dawa Party, could nominate a candidate if it withdrew al-Jaafari, but it was unclear whether Dawa officials would be able to persuade al-Jaafari to step down.
The Shiites have come under increasing pressure from the clerical leadership in Najaf and the U.S. government to resolve the dispute. U.S. officials have made it clear to the Shiites they would prefer a replacement for al-Jaafari because of his close ties to al-Sadr, who oversees an unpredictable militia, and his relationship with Iran, where he lived for many years in exile.
Al-Jaafari’s party is the most respected Shiite political group in Iraq. It was heavily persecuted by Saddam Hussein and came to represent the Shiites’ sense of victimization under Hussein’s government. Shiite officials have considered nominating some politicians outside the Dawa Party.
Iraqi politicians are also fighting over the post of speaker of parliament. The main Sunni Arab bloc is pushing the other blocs to support its leader, Tariq al-Hashemi, for the job. But some Shiites oppose al-Hashemi, saying he is too hard-line and sectarian, said Sami al-Askari, a member of the Shiite bloc.
U.S. and Iraqi officials say they hope the formation of a unified government will help stanch the sectarian bloodletting that has gripped Iraq. In the power vacuum, the rate of killings has soared.
Meanwhile, insurgents kept up their attacks on U.S. troops. Anbar, where the latest announced military deaths took place, continues to house the core of the Sunni insurgency and has seen a recent rise in lethal attacks on American troops. Forty-eight Americans and one British soldier have died in Iraq so far this month, a daily rate three times higher than in March and sharply higher than any period in the last six months.
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.