Word: dawa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...frontrunner for the key position of Prime Minister is currently Dr. Ibrahim al-Jaafari, leader of the Shiite Islamist Dawa party. Jaafari is the favorite to win the nomination of the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance list, assembled under the auspices of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. His key rival for the job, economist Adel Abdel Mahdi of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), agreed to take himself out of the running. In exchange for backing the Dawa man, SCIRI will likely get a candidate of its own choosing into one of two vice presidencies, and also...
...Assembly votes needed to choose the next Iraqi leadership. The UIA is a big tent created precisely to avoid splitting the Shiite vote. But the very diversity of opinion it embraces, from such large traditional Shiite parties as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and the Dawa party to wild card elements such as former Pentagon favorite Ahmed Chalabi and supporters of radical firebrand Moqtada Sadr, suggests there are plenty of fissures in the UIA coalition that could come into play in a new assembly. Moreover, the rules governing the new Assembly and government are such that...
...these groupings are recent creations, largely unknown among Iraqis (although in some instances their top candidate may enjoy some name-recognition). Even some of the more established parties who worked against Saddam Hussein in exile or underground, such as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Dawa Party and the Communist Party, are running under the umbrella of recently formed coalitions, meaning they won't actually appear on the ballot under their own names. Some Iraqi press reports say as many as 53 parties may have actually withdrawn from the race, although their names may still appear...
...relative weight will be amplified by the anticipated widespread Sunni boycott, the UIA is expected to win a plurality of the vote. That may make one of their leading candidates - Abdul Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq; Ibrahim al-Jaffari of the Dawa Party; and independent Hussein al-Sharistani - top contender for Allawi's job in the new government. This list also includes the one-time Pentagon favorite Ahmed Chalabi, as well as followers of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has taken a non-committal position on participation in the election...
...will need to be cleared with the Assembly and the President, both of whom will have the power to dismiss the government. "The main thing is that Iraqis will be able to feel that, through the Assembly, they can put pressure on the government to address their concerns," says Dawa leader al-Jaffari, who served as one of two Vice Presidents in the interim administration. "The Assembly will take a lot of the decision-making power out of the Prime Minister's hands...