Shiite prime minister to step down, From Iraq

[Camel Mlik]

KIRKUK, Iraq - Iraq's Kurdish president called on the country's Shiite prime minister to step down, the spokesman for the president's party said Sunday, escalating a political split between the two factions that make up the government.

 

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President Jalal Talabani has accused the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance, which holds the majority in parliament, of monopolizing power in the government and refusing to move ahead on a key issue for Kurds, the resettlement of Kurds in the northern city of Kirkuk.

 

"The time has come for the United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdistan coalition to study Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's stepping aside from his post," said Azad Jundiyani, a spokesman for Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. "This is for the benefit of the political process."

 

Jundiyani would not say whether the Kurds would withdraw from the government if the Shiite alliance does not back them in removing al-Jaafari. Talabani has made indirect threats to withdraw from the coalition if Kurdish demands are not met.

 

The two blocs have been the bedrock of the temporary government. Its collapse would add a new layer of political instability and underline how struggles for power are undermining efforts to get Iraq's fractious communities to work together in a new political system.

 

Iraq is holding an Oct. 15 referendum on a new constitution that leaders of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority reject, while it is backed by the Shiites and Kurds.

 

Jawad al-Maliki, a Shiite legislator and a leader in al-Jaafari's Dawaa party, denounced the call.

 

"They should have asked us for that in a legal way, and then we will have discussions," he said. "It is not beneficial for Iraq, especially during this period of time because the country is heading to a referendum and elections."