GOVERNMENT FORMATION UPDATE: TAWAFUQ CRITICISM OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000306 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2026 TAGS: PGOV PNAT KDEM IZ SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT FORMATION UPDATE: TAWAFUQ CRITICISM OF MOI CONTINUES; UIC NEGOTIATING ELECTION MECHANISM REF: BAGHDAD 294 Classified By: AMBASSADOR ZALMAY KHALILZAD, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) . ¶1. (C) The Ambassador attended a February 2 luncheon hosted by President Talabani that drew together all major elected parliamentarians. The elaborate luncheon, complete with an honor guard, closed with a widely-attended press conference. Leading Tawafuq bloc figure Khalaf al-Ayan made news during the press conference by supporting a unity government but calling for the Prime Minister to halt raids on Iraqi homes. Al-Ayan went so far as to call for U.S. forces to accompany Iraqi forces in the event that such raids were deemed absolutely necessary, a highly unusual position for a figure who has denounced the MNF-I presence in Iraq. The Ambassador met separately with Fadhila Party leader Nadeem al-Jabiri in the evening (see septel). In short, Jabiri said he was sticking with his candidacy but felt under threat. President Talabani and Minister Barham Salih approached the Ambassador to deliver a message from Adel Abd al-Mahdi. Mahdi, Salih said, would work favorably with the U.S. on other issues if the U.S. convinced Jabiri to withdraw his candidacy and swing his party's vote to Mahdi. ¶2. (C) In separate conversations, UIC 555 contacts -- Dawa's Ali Adeeb, Fadhila's Hassan al-Shamiri, SCIRI's Haitham al-Husseini and independent Sami al-Askari -- briefed us on a coalition meeting that took place February 2 at Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim's home. Askari said that the group had agreed on a mechanism for choosing a Prime Minister: there will be three rounds of voting, with each round eliminating one of the four candidates. Askari predicted the following results in the first round: Jafari, 55; Abd al-Mahdi, 30-35; Shahristani, 22-25; and Jabiri, 15. Askari said that once Jabiri and Shahristani have been eliminated, the race would come down to whether their supporters move behind Abd al-Mahdi or Jafari. Askari predicted that most Fadhila members would vote for Abd al-Mahdi. Husseini indicated that he expected the vote to take place on February 11. Jabiri gave a different account of the UIC PM debate, saying that members were still pushing for the PM decision to be made by consensus and would only choose the three step voting process as a last resort. KHALILZAD