Iraq's ruling Shi'ite bloc voted on Sunday to nominate incumbent Ibrahim al-Jaafari as candidate for prime minister in the first full-term government since the fall of Saddam Hussein, an alliance official said. Jaafari won by a single vote - an United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) vote, Sami al-Askari told Reuters, after weeks of wrangling that has delayed the start of talks for the formation of a new Iraqi government nearly two months after elections. The UIA had been expected to nominate Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi as prime minister on Saturday but was unable to reach a consensus. As the party with the biggest bloc in parliament after winning 128 of the 275 seats, the alliance will be asked by the next president to name a prime minister, to be approved by a simple parliamentary majority, under the Iraqi constitution.
