Press Interpreter

04/28/05 -- Finally, after a tug of war lasting three months between different political blocs, both great and small, the National Assembly of Iraq (the Parliament) bestowed its confidence in the government of the Prime Minister, appointed by Ibrahim al-Jaafari, with the majority of 180 votes out of the 185 representatives present at the session of the 275-member parliament, a day after the principal committee agreed to their selection.

Al-Jaafari’s government, which the new politicians of Iraq declared on the birthday of the deposed president, Saddam Hussein—by coincidence or by design—will constitute the first democratically elected government in Iraq for over 50 years.

The selection of the new government included four deputy prime ministers and 32 ministers, among which are seven women. According to the motion, which Hajem al-Hosni, the Speaker of the Parliament, read, five sensitive ministries remain, entrusted to ministers ex tempore, and those are Defence, Oil, Industry, Electricity, and Human Rights.

Al-Jaafari appointed himself Defence Minister ex tempore, which will pass, it is assumed, into the hands of a Sunni candidate, while the Ministry of Oil ex tempore was presented to the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, Ahmed Chelebi, who along with the Kurd Ruz Shawis, have been entrusted with two of the Deputy Prime Minister positions (the other two are still vacant). Hoshyar Zebari was the single minister who has retained his position as Foreign Minister, he being the one who occupied it under the previous Iyad Allawi government. Likewise, the Finance Ministry was entrusted to Abdel Amir Allawi, and Bayan Jabr was named Interior Minister.

This government was born amidst intense labor pains and bitter competition between the blocs that were victorious in the elections, and they are the United Iraqi Alliance, cemented by the authority of the Shiite ayatollah, al-Sistani (146 seats in parliament) and the Kurdish list under the leadership of Jalal al-Talabani and Masood al-Barzani (77 seats) as well as the Iraqi list which is headed by the Iraqi Prime Minister last in power, Iyad Allawi (40 seats). In the final days, some powers joined this competition, claiming to represent the Sunni Arabs.

[Remaining text untranslated]

By Kareem Hussein Naamah

--Translated by C.G. Häberl

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http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/98D17B10-05E6-48D4-957D-DBB0A15E1E8A.htm