Iraq's ruling Islamist Shi'ite alliance failed to pick a candidate for prime minister again in talks today, with rivalries delaying negotiations on forming a government nearly two months after elections.
A senior official in the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) said earlier that the grouping was expected to nominate Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi to lead the first full-term government after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
But today's talks dashed expectations that Abdul Mahdi, a leader in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), would stand as the alliance's candidate and ease what appears to be an internal crisis in the alliance.
As the party with the biggest bloc in parliament after winning 128 of the 275 seats, the alliance will be asked by the next president to name a prime minister, to be approved by a simple parliamentary majority, under the Iraqi constitution.
UIA leaders told a news conference that talks would resume tomorrowand officials would resort to a vote if a candidate is not chosen, a move that would expose divisions.
"The delay came because we are eager to safeguard the unity of the alliance behind its nominee," said Jawad al-Maliki, a leader of the Dawa party, which along with SCIRI and other Shi'ite parties forms the Shi'ite bloc.
"If this is not achieved tomorrow we will resort to voting."
Maliki said most of the parties who requested a delay backed Dawa leader and incumbent Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari for the top job in government.