BAGHDAD, Feb 11 (AFP): Iraqi Shiite politicians were meeting Saturday to select a new Prime Minister, almost two months after an election for the country's first permanent post- Saddam Hussein government. The United Iraqi Alliance, which emerged victorious in the December 15 vote, was to choose between two contenders-current Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi. The United Iraq Alliance was confirmed Friday as the winner of the December election, paving the way for the formation of a new government and the opening of parliament. The UIA won 128 seats in the 275-member parliament, while an alliance of several Sunni and secular groups, the Joint Council for National Action, took 80 and the Kurdish Alliance won 53. The remaining seats are shared by small parties, mostly representing ethnic and religious minorities. Abdel Mahdi, 63, a leading official in SCIRI and a strong advocate of a free market economy, is strongly pegged as the future premier given his moderate outlook and close relations with Washington. He had been widely expected to become prime minister in 2005 after elections in January, but lost out to Jaafari due to intense haggling in the formation of the transitional government. The former doctor and Shiite activist, Jaafari, 57, whose Dawa party battled Saddam's regime for decades, promised to pacify the country and revive a long-debilitated economy, but both peace and prosperity remain elusive.
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