Iraq: Influential Shiite Bloc Picks Side Not on the Ballot
In a poll released Wednesday, the two front-runners vying to become Iraq’s next prime minister failed to get the support of the influential Shiite movement led by the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr. The bulk of Mr. Sadr’s supporters said he should back the Shiite politician Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who was interim prime minister from 2005 to 2006. The Sadrists held the informal poll after former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s secular bloc won just two seats more than Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s coalition in the March 7 election. With both sides short of the majority needed to govern alone in Parliament, the candidates are scrambling for support to form a government.
